IRLF 


375 


REESE    LIBRARY 

OF  THK 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Received  ..  i^/^*^L,  i8p./. 

Accessions 


THE 


ELEMENTS  OF 


RAILROADING. 


A  SERIES  OF    SHORT   ESSAYS  REPRINTED   FROM    THE 
RAILROAD   GAZETTE, 


BY 

CHARLES  PAINE. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE  RAILROAD  GAZETTE,  No.  73  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 
1885. 


COPYRIGHT,  1884, 

BY 
THE  RAILROAD  GAZETTE. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 
SURVEYING  AND  CONSTRUCTION. 

PAGE 

The  Selection  of  Men — Final  Location — Tact — Accurate 
Notes  —  Specifications  —  Overseeing  —  Foundations  — 
Tracklaying  ........  i 

CHAPTER  il. 
REAL  ESTATE  AND  RECORDS. 

Titles — The  Land  Department — Acquiring  Titles — Title 
Records — Maps — A  Modern  Instance — Preservation 
of  Records  —  Retaining  Possession  —  Miscellaneous 
Reports  .........  14 

CHAPTER  III. 
DRAINAGE. 

Results  of  Bad  Drainage — Ditches  at  Top  of  Slope — Tile 
Drains — Pole  Drains — Draining  Yards — Ditching — 
Provision  against  Floods 25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

MAIN  TRACK. 
The  Ideal  Track — Ballast — Surfacing — Joints — Sleepers     .         39 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
TRACKMEN  AND  SIDINGS. 

PAGE 

The  Treatment  of  Trackmen — Tools  and  Equipment — 
Shoveling  Snow  —  Locating  Sidings  —  Frogs  and 
Switches 48 

CHAPTER  VI. 

STATIONS. 
Roomy  Sites — Location — Offices   and  Waiting   Rooms — 

Water  Closets — Freight  Houses — Water  Works        .         58 

CHAPTER  VII. 

SHOPS  AND  ENGINE-HOUSES. 

Location  —  Buildings  —  Heating  —  Foundry — Interior  Fit- 
tings —  Sanitary  Arrangements  —  Cranes  —  Round- 
Houses—Turn-Tables 71 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
TELEGRAPH  LINES  AND*  FENCES. 
Poles,  Wires,  etc. — Uses  of  the  Telegraph — Telegraphers — 

Fences— Barbed  Wire— Posts— Gates .         .         .         .         85 

CHAPTER  IX. 
LOCOMOTIVES. 

Runners  should  be  Rotated — Locomotives  Continuously 
Worked  —  Interchangeability  of  Parts  —  Inspection 
during  Construction  —  Leading  Freight  Engines  — 
Premiums  to  Enginemen  —  Firing  —  Painting  —  Pat- 
terns— Weights,  etc .  97 

CHAPTER  X. 

CARS. 

Quality  of  Axles — Wheel  Threads — Round  Wheels — Trucks 
and  Safety  Attachments — Interchangeability  of  Parts — 
Interchange  of  Cars — Lubrication — Limit  of  Loads  .  112 


CONTENTS.  V 

CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  MOVEMENT  OF  FREIGHT. 

PAGE 

To  make  all  Cars  Available — Prompt  Loading  and  Un- 
loading— Reporting  Foreign  Car  Mileage — Scales  and 
Cranes — Charging  Separate  Items — Avoid  Switching — 
Long  Trains — Freight  Blockades  ....  125 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  MOVEMENT  OF  PASSENGERS. 

Treatment  of  Passengers — Discipline  of  Trainmen — Inspec- 
tion of  Coaches — Uniforms  —  Refreshments  —  Local 
Trains — Porters — Baggage  .  .  .  .  .  137 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

EMPLOYES. 

Promotions — Treatment   of    Derelicts — Selection   of    Em 
ployes  —  Rewards  and   Punishments  —  Provisions  for 
Comfort — Associations 147 


ELEMENTS  OF  RAI  .ROADING. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SURVEYING  AND   CONSTRUCTION. 

THE  SELECTION  OF  MEN — FINAL  LOCATION — TACT — ACCURATE 
NOTES  —  SPECIFICATIONS  — OVERSEEING —  FOUNDATIONS — 
TRACKLAYING. 

The  organization  of  the  engineering  party  for  the 
survey  of  a  new  railroad  is  usually  intended  to  be  a 
temporary  one,  yet  its  results  are  often  enduring 
in  their  effect  upon  the  road  and  upon  the  persons 
engaged  in  the  surveys ;  the  men,  who  go  as  rod- 
men,  chainmen,  and  axemen,  naturally  become 
attached  to  the  road  in  one  capacity  or  another, 
even  if  a  long  interval  shall  elapse  between  the 
first  surveys  and  construction.  When  the  ground 
is  broken,  they  will  surely  be  at  hand,  and  persist 
in  being  identified  with  the  fate  of  the  enterprise. 


2  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

It  is,  therefore,  worth  while,  in  the  beginning,  to 
select  the  men  with  care  ;  and  if  the  men,  of 
course,  all  the  more  the  officers  who  are  to  com- 
mand them. 

The  chief  engineer  in  charge  of  the  surveys 
should  be  chosen  for  well-known  ability  and  ex- 
perience in  construction,  united  to  an  acquaintance 
with  the  needs  of  a  road  in  operation  ;  and  not 
for  any  other  kind  of  availability.  An  ignorant 
and  unskillful  location  may  cost  not  only  unneces- 
sary sums  in  construction,  but  perpetual  expendi- 
tures afterward  in  the  cost  of  hauling  trains,  or 
large  outlays  to  remedy  the  defects  of  the  road  as 
first  built.  We  may  imagine  a  piece  of  country 
in  which  the  location  or  construction  of  a  railroad 
would  be  a  very  simple  matter ;  but  a  region 
which  is  at  all  difficult  will  present  problems 
requiring  a  high  order  of  talent  for  their  solution. 

These  are  truths  which  are  perfectly  familiar  to 
engineers  ;  but  are  so  often  ignored  by  capitalists, 
or  by  their  representatives,  who  undertake  the 
direction  in  the  building  of  railroads,  that  it  seems 
advisable  to  reassert  them  whenever  there  is  a 
favorable  opportunity  to  do  so. 

The  best  location  can  not  be  determined  except 
upon  the  ground  ;  the  most  trained  and  expert 
imagination  can  not  take  in  from  contour  maps  all 
the  details  which  are  seized  on  a  view  of  the  prob- 
lem upon  the  natural  scale.  The  maps  may  be  of 
great  value  in  its  determination  after  a  study  of 


TACT.  3 

the  ground,  or  they  may  enable  an  experienced 
person  to  form  an  opinion  as  to  whether  a  loca- 
tion is  good  or  decidedly  bad  ;  but  a  line  drawn 
in  the  office  by  the  chief  engineer,  when  he  has 
not  had  time  to  visit  the  spot,  is  not  sure  to  be  the 
best.  On  this  account,  the  final  surveys  should 
not  be  too  much  hurried  ;  if  a  necessity  for  haste 
exists,  then  there  is  necessity  also  for  more  than 
one  engineer  to  whom  the  decision  of  difficult 
problems  maybe  confided  ;  for,  it  is  insisted  upon, 
they  ought  to  be  decided  in  the  field.  It  seems 
frequently  to  be  supposed  that  it  is  the  instru- 
ments which  perform  the  location,  and  not  the 
understanding  and  judgment  which  direct  them. 

It  is  a  mistaken  economy  which  strives  to 
accomplish  cheap  surveys,  or  a  cheap  supervision 
of  the  construction  of  a  railroad. 

In  setting  out  upon  a  railroad  survey,  it  is  not 
uncommon  for  a  party  to  proceed  like  an  army  in 
the  enemy's  country,  without  the  smallest  regard 
to  the  rights  of  the  proprietors  over  whose  land 
they  must  pass  ;  trampling  growing  crops,  throw- 
ing down  fences,  cutting  valuable  trees,  appro- 
priating fence  rails  or  fence  boards  to  make  stakes, 
and  afterward  expressing  surprise  at  the  unfriendly 
disposition  of  the  owners  of  the  soil.  The  dislike 
of  the  railroad  company  and  of  railroad  men 
which  this  first  impression  engenders,  frequently 
endures,  in  an  agricultural  community,  for  many 
years  after  the  railway  has  gone  into  operation ; 


4  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

nothing  could  be  more  impolitic  than  such  a 
beginning,  and  nothing  is  more  unnecessary.  Of 
course,  it  is  not  possible  to  avoid  crossing  the 
fields,  but  straggling  through  them  can  be  pre- 
vented ;  when  a  fence  is  taken  down  it  should  be 
carefully  restored  ;  a  valuable  tree  should  not  be 
cut,  except  upon  final  location;  and  then  it  should 
be  explained  to  the  owner  that  he  will  be  paid  for 
it.  As  "  a  soft  answer  turneth  away  wrath,"  so  an 
expression  of  regret  to  him  at  the  invasion  of  his 
domain,  which  duty  has  compelled  the  party  to 
make,  and  an  assurance  that  it  shall  do  as  little 
injury  as  possible,  will  often  convert  him  into  a 
friend,  especially  if  he  finds  it  to  be  true  that  he 
is  not  damaged  more  than  need  be.  For  this 
reason,  the  material  for  stakes  should  be  pur- 
chased ;  the  best  way,  where  there  is  a  saw-mill 
accessible,  is  to  have  them  manufactured  in  bun- 
dles, and  delivered  at  the  most  convenient  points. 
They  will  be  better  stakes,  and  cost  less  than  if 
the  material  for  them  is  stolen,  and  they  are  made 
in  the  field  by  an  axeman. 

After  the  line  has  been  determined,  it  is  very  pru- 
dent, and  will  prove  most  convenient,  to  fix  it  at 
frequent  intervals  by  references,  recorded  in  the 
note-books,  to  permanent  objects  beyond  the  mar- 
gins of  the  works,  such  as  trees,  ledges,  heavy 
bowlders,  fence  corners  and  buildings,  where  they 
can  be  availed  of ;  and  by  reference-plugs  when 
they  can  not.  No  one  can  foresee  at  what  moment 


A  CCURA  TE  NO  TES.  5 

operations  may  be  suspended,  nor  for  how  long, 
nor  what  may  befall  the  stakes  or  the  center 
plugs,  which  are  sometimes  plowed  up,  often  mali- 
ciously removed  by  persons  who  have  a  grudge  to 
satisfy ;  and  always  exterminated  by  the  operations 
of  the  contractors.  With  frequent  reference 
points  in  his  notes,  the  constructing  engineer  can 
smile  at  the  attempts  to  annoy  him  in  this  way: 
and  if  the  completion  of  the  work  should  be 
delayed,  even  for  a  generation,  his  successor  will 
bless  him  for  the  ready  means  which  he  has  pro- 
vided for  restoring  his  line. 

Having  in  view  the  various  possibilities  which 
may  devolve  upon  another  the  completion  of  the 
work  which  he  has  begun,  the  conscientious  engi- 
neer will  require  that  all  note-books  shall  be  dated 
and  shall  state  by  whom  the  notes  were  written  ; 
and,  so  far  as  practicable,  to  what  they  refer.  If 
the  final  location  is  arrived  at,  or  what  is  presumed 
to  be  such,  the  note-books,  plans  and  profiles  hav- 
ing reference  to  it  should  be  inscribed  accordingly, 
and  should  be  carefully  annotated  if  any  subsequent 
change  is  made.  There  is  no  minute  detail  which 
does  not  become  precious  to  any  one  who  follows 
a  preceding  engineer  upon  railroad  work,  and  it  is 
each  one's  duty  to  make  his  notes  so  full  that  they 
shall  be  easily  understood  by  whomsoever  he  may 
be  succeeded  ;  yet  the  characteristic  of  many  note- 
books, as  also  of  many  office  plans  and  profiles,  is 
meagerness  ;  they  contain  nothing  that  could  pos- 


6  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

siblybe  omitted,  and  rarely  any  thing  by  which  the 
part  of  the  world  to  which  they  have  reference 
can  be  readily  known.  Of  course  those  now 
referred  to  are  the  working  plans.  It  is  probable 
that  their  incompleteness  is  due  to  the  haste  with 
which  nearly  all  office  work  must  be  done,  and  to 
the  fact  that  no  one  is  expected  to  use  them  except 
he  who  makes  them  or  who  has  them  made.  Yet 
a  title  and  a  date,  if  only  in  pencil,  will  be  a  sure 
guarantee  of  future  usefulness,  and  should  be  in- 
variably required  by  instructions  to  all  assistants 
and  draughtsmen  from  their  superiors.  The  dis- 
covery of  such  a  date  upon  a  plan  which  bore  the 
outlines  of  the  then  condition  of  an  important 
work  once  proved  the  chief  means  by  which  a 
great  lawsuit  was  decided,  for  it  enabled  the  prin- 
cipal witness  to  recall  the  circumstances  under 
which  he  had  made  the  plan,  which  was  then  only 
to  be  used  for  an  approximate  estimate  ;  but,  after 
ten  or  twelve  years  had  elapsed,  became  valuable 
for  a  final  one. 

There  should  always  be  more  than  one  copy  of 
all  notes  of  information  which  is  likely  to  be  per- 
manently valuable.  Immense  damage  and  uncer- 
tainty may  result  from  the  loss  of  a  note-book,  if 
it  contains,  for  instance,  the  only  notes  of  the  first 
cross-sections  of  borrow  pits  or  other  excavations  ; 
a  loss  which  is  not  only  possible,  but,  according  to 
experience,  is  a  frequent  one.  Even  if  the  infor- 
mation which  is  lost  could  be  recovered,  it  is 


SORROW-PITS.  7 

cheaper  and  more  convenient  to  have  recorded  it 
in  the  office,  than  to  be  compelled  to  make  another 
survey.  Let  no  haste,  or  other  consideration, 
tempt  an  engineer  to  permit  any  excavation  to  be 
attacked,  before  all  the  cross-sections  of  the  sur- 
face have  been  taken  which  will  be  required  for  an 
accurate  estimate;  for  he  can  not  foresee  the  causes 
of  delay  which  may  intervene  before  he  can  per- 
form the  leveling,  after  the  digging  has  begun. 

Shrewd  contractors  are  on  the  look-out  for  such 
instances  of  neglect,  and  will  take  advantage  of 
them,  when  they  claim,  as  they  often  do  at  the 
last,  an  underestimate.  At  such  a  time,  when 
before  the  courts,  the  engineer's  judgment  or  recol- 
lection as  to  the  surface  of  the  ground  is  no  more 
valuable  than  that  of  the  contractor's  foreman  ; 
but  his  instrumental  determination  of  it  is  gener- 
ally conclusive. 

Specifications  generally  do,  and  always  should 
provide  that  borrow-pits  must  be  finished  to  regu- 
lar lines  and  surfaces,  according  to  the  direction 
of  the  engineer ;  yet  they  are  almost  always  left 
unfinished  to  any  line  and  in  a  condition  to  be  an 
eyesore  to  every  traveler ;  filled  with  scattered 
stumps,  bowlders  and  pools  of  stagnant  water, 
making  the  area  over  which  they  extend  unfit  for 
any  use  whatever. 

Even  if  some  small  economy  were  effected  by 
leaving  them  in  this  disorderly  state,  it  could  not 
justify  the  conversion  of  a  fair  piece  of  hillside  or 


8  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

meadow  into  a  hideous  pit,  to  deface  the  railroad 
margin  and  the  neighborhood  ;  but  usually  the  con- 
tract price  covers  the  cost  of  having  the  ground 
left  in  acceptable  shape,  and  only  the  engineer 
in  charge  is  to  blame  that  it  is  not  left  so.  He 
should  remember  that,  although  he  may  be  build- 
ing through  a  wilderness,  his  work  is  likely  to 
make  it  "  blossom  as  the  rose,"  for  population 
surely  follows  the  railroad.  Even  in  the  wilder- 
ness the  roadway  should  be  neat  and  orderly,  first, 
as  a  matter  of  discipline,  and  second,  because  it  is 
easier  and  cheaper  to  keep  it  so  than  neglect  it. 
The  twigs  and  weeds  can  be  easily  mowed,  and 
burned  while  small ;  if  neglected,  they  will  intrude 
beyond  endurance,  and  when  they  have  grown 
strong  the  task  of  clearing  the  roadway  is  a  serious 
one.  It  is  not  alone  as  to  borrow-pits  that  the 
specifications  are  not  enforced,  or  purposely  say 
more  than  they  intend,  leading  to  loose  habits  and 
bad  work ;  for  the  contractor  seeks  to  avoid  com- 
pliance in  particulars  of  importance,  because  others 
of  less  consequence  are  not  firmly  insisted  upon. 
The  just  way  is  carefully  to  prescribe  in  them 
exactly  what  will  be  required,  and  no  more. 

In  nothing  is  the  mechanical  law,  that  what  is 
gained  in  speed  is  lost  in  power,  more  clearly 
exemplified  than  in  the  engineering  department 
of  a  railway,  both  in  surveys  and  in  construction. 
If  there  is  much  important  work,  and  it  is  to  be 
pushed,  the  number  of  the  engineers  in  charge 


0  VERSE  KING.  9 

must  be  increased  in  proportion  to  the  vigor 
required.  One  engineer,  however  competent,  is 
physically  capable  of  only  a-  certain  amount  of 
oversight,  and  no  satisfactory  results  can  be  relied 
upon  except  through  supervision  by  persons  of 
judgment  and  experience.  The  faults  of  construc- 
tion which  have  been  lamented  upon  so  many 
railroads,  after  they  have  gone  into  operation, 
have  been  due  chiefly  to  the  insufficiency  of  the 
engineering  force  employed.  If  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  assistants  have  been  engaged,  the  low  rate 
of  pay  allowed  has  not  been  enough  to  secure  men 
of  experience  to  decide  wisely  the  innumerable 
problems  which  must  be  promptly  settled,  so  that 
the  work  shall  not  be  delayed.  Left  to  himself, 
the  chief  engineer,  if  competent,  will  rarely  fail 
to  provide  an  efficient  and  capable  staff;  he  is 
generally  limited  in  this  respect  by  the  financial 
administration,  and  makes  up  by  his  own  over- 
work so  much  of  the  deficiency  as  he  can.  The 
remedy  for  this  must,  perhaps,  be  left  to  time, 
showing  by  unfortunate  experiences  the  bad 
results  of  a  mistaken  policy.  Examples  are 
plenty  enough  already,  if  they  had  their  due 
effect. 

It  would  be  better  for  the  company  that  the 
chief  engineer  should  err  in  having  too  many  com- 
petent assistants,  rather  than  by  having  employed 
too  few ;  for  the  loss  in  the  first  instance  would  be 
limited  to  a  few  salaries,  and  to  the  period  of  con- 


I O  ELEMENTS  OF  RA ILROA DING. 

struction  ;  in  the  last  instance  the  damage  may  be 
incalculable  and  perpetual. 

The  most  critical  of  all  work  upon  a  railway  is 
the  construction  of  foundations,  whether  for  the 
more  important  bridges  or  for  culverts  which  are 
comparatively  insignificant  in  magnitude,  but 
which  may  involve,  by  their  failure,  the  most  seri- 
ous destruction  of  life  and  interruption  of  traffic. 
The  decision  of  the  vital  questions  affecting  these 
smaller  structures,  as  the  depth  to  which  the 
excavation  shall  be  carried,  and  the  sufficiency  of 
the  bottom,  is  very  often  left  to  the  sub-assistant, 
which  is  really  a  criminal  neglect  of  duty  on  the 
part  of  the  division  engineer,  if  it  comes  from 
laziness  or  indifference  on  his  part ;  if  from  having 
too  much  else  to  attend  to,  he  is  certainly  bound 
to  protest  to  his  superiors  against  being  compelled 
to  neglect  the  most  important  service  upon  which 
he  can  be  employed.  There  are  occasional  failures 
of  works  of  masonry  due  to  their  faulty  workman- 
ship, or  to  an  insufficient  thickness  of  the  walls, 
but  they  are  rare  in  comparison  with  the  numbers 
which  fail  from  defective  foundations,  and  it  is  to 
this  part  of  his  work  that  the  engineer,  the  less 
experienced  one  particularly,  should  give  his  most 
earnest  study.  With  all  the  information  which  he 
may  derive  from  text-books  and  from  the  pub- 
lished examples  of  the  works  of  others,  he  will  find 
occasions  for  the  use  of  his  best  common  sense  to 
apply  his  learning  to  the  case  in  hand. 


FO  UNDA  TIONS.  1 1 

The  great  value  of  concrete  in  foundations  is 
slowly  coming  to  be  appreciated,  yet  is  not  availed 
of  largely  in  railway  works,  except  those  of  the 
most  imposing  character ;  while  the  cheapness, 
convenience  and  superiority  in  all  respects  to  any 
other  sort  of  base,  should  recommend  it  for  uni- 
versal use.  It  enables  the  engineer  to  build  his 
superstructure  on  a  monolith  as  long,  as  wide  and 
as  deep  as  he  may  think  best  to  construct,  which 
can  not  fail  in  parts,  but  must  go  all  together,  if  of 
suitable  proportions. 

We  are  favored  in  this  country  with  cheap 
natural  cements  of  excellent  quality,  seldom  quite 
equal  to  the  artificial  cements  in  strength,  but 
sufficient  for  all  needs  in  walls  and  foundations,  if 
properly  chosen  and  carefully  inspected  ;  but 
nothing  is  more  likely  to  vary  than  one  lot  of 
cement  from  another  of  the  same  manufacture.  It 
demands,  therefore,  great  care  in  its  use  to  obtain 
the  best  results ;  but  these  are  so  valuable  when 
attained,  that  no  masonry  should  now  be  built 
without  cement  mortar.  The  common  mortar  of 
quicklime  and  sand  is  not  fit  for  thick  walls,  be- 
cause it  depends  upon  the  slow  action  of  the  atmos- 
phere for  hardening  it,  and,  being  excluded  from  the 
air  by  the  surrounding  masonry,  the  mortar  in  the 
interior  of  the  mass  hardens  only  after  the  lapse 
of  years,  or  perhaps  never ;  the  mortar  of  cement, 
if  of  good  quality,  sets  immediately,  and  continues 
to  harden  without  contact  with  the  air,  and,  so  far 
as  is  known,  forever. 


12  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

At  the  time  when  tracklaying  begins,  the  en. 
gineering  force  is  fully  employed  in  hastening  the 
completion  of  the  grading,  running  lines  and 
centers,  and  is  probably  harassed  also  by  the  de- 
mand for  final  estimates  from  impatient  contract- 
ors. It  will  often  be  convenient,  therefore,  to 
place  the  inspection  of  lumber,  sleepers,  rails, 
spikes,  bolts,  angle-plates  and  similar  supplies  for 
the  superstructure,  in  charge  of  a  separate  depart- 
ment organized  to  receive  and  forward  these  ma- 
terials to  the  places  where  they  are  to  be  used. 
The  inspector  can  usually  act  as  a  tallyman  and  as 
a  forwarding  agent  also;  he  should  be  governed 
in  his  inspection  by  the  specifications  from  the 
engineers. 

However  this  may  be  arranged,  it  will  be  found 
advantageous  to  have  all  supplies  inspected,  and 
as  near  to  the  place  of  manufacture  as  possible  ; 
for  there  will  often  be  some  materials  offered 
which  ought  to  be  rejected,  and  there  will  be  no 
loss  suffered  from  transportation,  and  therefore 
less  occasion  for  protests  on  the  part  of  manufact- 
urers when  they  are  thrown  out  before  shipment. 

Steel  rails  need  to  be  examined  to  insure  that 
they  are  not  brittle,  that  they  are  straight,  of  ex- 
act height,  not  depressed  at  the  ends  (a  common 
and  serious  defect,  and  not  to  be  remedied  in  the 
track,  is  this  depression),  and  that  they  do  not 
vary  unreasonably  in  length.  Of  course  they  must 
be  inspected  for  flaws;  but  the  mills  do  that 


TRA  CKLA  YING.  1 3 

usually  quite  thoroughly,  since  they  have  a  good 
market  for  rails  of  second  quality.  The  common 
defects  in  spikes  are  brittleness  and  imperfect 
points ;  in  joint-bolts,  bad  material,  loose  nuts, 
shallow  threads ;  in  angle-plates,  a  variation  from 
the  true  section  which  makes  them  fit  badly — a 
serious  and  not  uncommon  fault.  It  will  require 
careful  tallying  and  careful  accounting  to  keep 
track  of  all  the  materials,  to  insure  that  none  are 
stolen,  and,  more  than  all,  that  none  are  wasted. 
If  track  is  laid  by  contractors,  the  proper  allow- 
ance of  them  per  mile  should  be  determined  and 
delivered  to  them  upon  receipts ;  otherwise  the 
spikes  and  joint-bolts  will  be  scattered  and  buried, 
as  if  they  were  without  value. 


CHAPTER  II. 


REAL  ESTATE  AND   RECORDS. 


TITLES  —  THE  LAND  DEPARTMENT  —  ACQUIRING  TITLES  — 
TITLE  RECORDS — MAPS — A  MODERN  INSTANCE — PRESERVA- 
TION OF  RECORDS — RETAINING  POSSESSION — MISCELLA- 
NEOUS REPORTS. 


The  titles  by  which  real  estate  or  landed  prop- 
erty is  held  have  always  been  the  object  of  pecu- 
liar care  among  civilized  nations,  and  one  of  the 
most  important  functions  of  our  civil  government 
is  to  provide  for  the  accuracy  and  safety  of  the 
records  by  which  they  are  perpetuated  ;  so  that  one 
could  expect  that  the  conveyances  taken  by  a  rail- 
road company  would  be  cared  for  almost  instinct- 
ively ;  yet  it  has  been  the  misfortune  of  many  a 
railway  president  or  manager  to  find  that  his 
predecessors  had  given  no  attention  to  the  preser- 
vation or  completion  of  the  titles  to  the  property 
belonging  to  the  company  over  which  he  had  been 
called  to  preside. 


LAND  DEPARTMENT.  15 

It  will  often  be  found  that  the  original  deeds, 
or  the  awards  in  condemnation  proceedings,  have 
never  reached  the  office  of  the  company ;  they 
have  perhaps  been  handed  to  some  local  attorney 
who  acted  temporarily  for  the  company,  and  may 
be  lost  in  one  of  his  dustiest  pigeon-holes  ;  indeed, 
conjecture  can  scarcely  go  astray  in  guessing  what 
may  have  befallen  a  railroad  company's  title  deeds, 
if  they  have  not  been  carefully  looked  after  by 
some  person  who  has  had  exclusive  charge  of  them. 

In  the  organization  of  a  railroad  company  for 
the  purpose  of  building  a  new  railroad,  after  the 
engineering  corps  has  been  created,  the  very  first 
necessity  is  the  establishment  of  a  land  depart- 
ment with  a  capable  officer  at  the  head  of  it,  who 
shall  be  responsible  only  to  the  president,  or  to  the 
officer,  by  whatever  name,  who  is  charged  with  the 
chief  responsibility  in  the  construction  of  the 
road.  The  person  selected  for  the  head  of  the 
land  department  should  have  had  some  familiarity 
with  land  titles ;  if  he  is  an  experienced  convey- 
ancer, so  much  the  better,  and  he  must  be  an  en- 
ergetic man,  who  will  insist  on  having  a  perfect 
title  to  each  piece  of  property  paid  for.  A  weak 
man  will  accept  almost  any  title  that  is  offered. 
A  fair  lawyer  of  the  right  character  is  likely  to 
prove  as  serviceable  as  any  person,  if  he  is  one  of 
those  who  have  been  trained  to  be  methodical  in 
the  care  of  papers,  and  if  he  can  write  a  legible 
hand. 


1 6  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

The  papers  concerning  land  titles  should  not  be 
trusted  to  the  care  of  the  engineer's  department, 
as  they  often  are ;  that  department  has  too  many 
other  matters  to  attend  to  ;  its  personnel ris  too  apt 
to  change  frequently,  while  it  is  desirable  that  the 
person  who  has  become  familiar  with  the  titles  of 
the  property  shall  remain  in  charge  of  them. 

The  engineering  department  should  prepare  a 
small  map  of  each  property  which  is  to  be  pur- 
chased or  otherwise  acquired,  to  be  firmly  and  per- 
manently attached  to  the  papers;  this  will  render 
the  description  clear  to  all  parties  and  will  serve  to 
correct  any  clerical  error  which  may  occur  in  the 
description. 

Generally  it  is  best  that  the  engineer's  depart- 
ment shall  prepare  the  description,  to  be  revised 
by  the  conveyancer.  The  most  thorough  examina- 
tion should  be  made  of  the  validity  of  the  title  to 
be  acquired,  for  any  plausible  possession  of  a 
property  will  seem  to  most  holders  to  justify  them 
in  giving  a  warranty  deed  to  a  railroad  company, 
provided  that  company  will  pay  for  it.  Such  ex- 
aminations or  searches  are  most  readily  conducted 
by  a  reputable  attorney  who  has  been  long  settled 
in  the  county  where  the  property  is  situated,  for 
he  will  be  already  familiar  with  the  history  of  most 
of  the  older  titles  in  his  neighborhood ;  yet  his 
approval  of  a  deed  should  always  be  accompanied 
by  an  abstract  from  the  county  records,  to  be 
carefully  scrutinized  by  the  conveyancer  at  head- 


TITLE  RECORDS.  17 

quarters.  The  president,  or  whoever  approves 
the  vouchers  for  the  purchase  of  real  estate, 
should  refuse  to  sign  one  until  it  has  been  first 
certified  by  the  conveyancer  that  the  title  acquired 
by  the  company  will  be  good  and  sufficient. 

The  title  deeds  having  been  signed,  sealed,  and 
acknowledged  before  a  magistrate,  they  must  be 
sent  to  the  appropriate  recorder's  office,  and  an 
entry  of  the  date  when  they  are  sent  should  be 
made  in  some  proper  place.  A  convenient  method 
of  keeping  in  view  all  the  proceedings  relating  to 
the  procurement  of  rights  of  way  and  other  prop- 
erties is  to  make  a  list,  in  a  suitable  book,  of  all 
such  properties  in  regular  order,  beginning  at  one 
end  of  the  line  and  following  through  to  the  other 
end,  with  columns  ruled  in  which  to  insert  under 
proper  headings  the  date  when  condemnation 
proceedings,  if  any,  were  commenced ;  when 
concluded ;  when  deed  was  taken ;  amount  paid 
as  consideration  ;  kind  of  deed,  as  warranty,  quit- 
claim, or  award  ;  date  of  forwarding  to  recorder  ; 
date  when  returned  ;  number  and  file  in  which  the 
deed  is  to  be  kept;  with  a  broad  column  for  re- 
marks. The  entries  in  this  book  should  be,  at  first, 
several  lines  apart,  to  admit  of  interlineation  which 
will  be  required,  because  of  discoveries  which  will 
be  made  of  several  ownerships,  in  what  is  supposed 
to  be  one  property,  and  because  of  borrow-pits, 
station  grounds  and  other  pieces  of  land  which 
will  be  wanted  later  on. 


iS  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

It  is  well,  for  these  reasons,  to  give  the  deeds, 
when  filed,  only  a  provisional  number,  at  first  in 
pencil,  corresponding  with  the  number  in  the  list 
in  the  book,  until  the  final  number  shall  have  been 
arrived  at,  when  they  should  be  carefully  numbered 
in  red  ink  and  filed  in  the  order  of  numbering. 
Stout  paper  boxes,  of  a  size  to  contain  fifty  or  one 
hundred  deeds,  should  be  provided  for  them,  and 
lettered  on  the  outside,  showing  the  numbers  con- 
tained in  each ;  it  is  sometimes  convenient  to  note 
on  the  outside  of  the  boxes  the  names  of  the 
county  or  townships  in  which  the  property  cov- 
ered by  the  contents  of  the  box  is  situated. 

The  railroad  company  should  have  blank  forms 
for  its  deeds  prepared  by  its  conveyancer  and 
printed,  so  as  to  secure  uniformity  in  style  and 
shape,  and  as  a  convenient  means  of  insuring 
against  the  omission  of  important  clauses,  also  to 
save  much  writing,  which  would  be  necessary  in 
using  the  ordinary  blanks. 

The  deeds  and  all  other  valuable  papers  of  any 
well  ordered  railroad  company  should  be  kept  in 
a  vault,  or  at  least  in  a  safe,  taking  care  that  the 
safe  is  one  which  will  carry  them  through  a  fire ; 
for  it  is  incredible,  almost,  how  often  such  docu- 
ments have  been  imperiled,  and  how  often  lost,  by 
a  neglect  of  this  most  evident  precaution. 

As  soon  as  the  exigencies  of  the  surveys  will 
permit  the  engineer's  department  should  be  re- 
quired to  prepare  an  atlas  of  the  property  of  the 


MAPS.  tg 

railway  company  on  a  scale  of  not  less  than  one 
inch  to  100  ft.,  preferably  upon  a  larger  scale, 
showing  the  right  of  way,  every  outlying  corner  or 
lot,  every  borrow-pit,  carefully  surveyed  and 
figured  in  the  clearest  manner.  It  is  best  to  tint 
the  boundaries  of  the  railroad  company  with  some 
pale  color,  using  always  the  same,  upon  the  inside 
of  the  line,  to  make  the  area  owned  by  the  com- 
pany distinguishable  at  a  glance.  The  atlas 
should  be  duplicate  or  triplicate,  being  traced 
easily  on  thin  paper  by  a  boy  in  the  office,  the 
sheets  to  be  afterward  bound  into  an  atlas.  The 
properties  shown  in  these  volumes  should  bear  on 
the  maps  the  names  of  the  owners  from  whom 
they  are  bought,  character  of  title,  when  paid  for, 
consideration  paid,  so  as  to  avoid  a  reference  to 
any  other  list  or  document  for  such  information, 
which  is  that  most  frequently  required.  It  is  very 
useful  to  have  the  names  of  adjoining  owners  in 
their  proper  places  in  the  atlas,  for  it  will  often 
save  a  visit  to  the  place  or  a  special  survey  when 
additional  width  is  required. 

The  distances  and  courses  to  all  corners  should 
be  carefully  surveyed,  and  their  relations  to  the 
railroad  boundaries  should  be  showii  and  figured 
on  the  atlas.  Many  railroad  land  m  ^a  and  atlases 
would  be  found  not  to  contain  one  ogure  which 
would  determine  the  exact  relation  of  the  railroad 
line  to  any  other  line  or  point  whatever.  It  is 
also  desirable  to  note  in  the  atlas  the  relations  of 


20  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

the  "  center  lines "  to  the  boundaries,  to  the 
corners  and  to  the  first  track  laid,  if  only  one  track 
is  laid  ;  for  without  such  a  notation,  the  coming 
generation  may  be  totally  in  the  dark  about  them. 
In  the  history  of  a  certain  railroad  company,  its 
board  of  directors  and  its  policy  were  changed  ; 
from  having  contemplated  a  single  track  as  the 
extent  of  their  undertaking,  during  which  period 
the  first  track  was  laid  in  the  center  of  the  right 
of  way,  the  possibility  that  a  second  track  might 
at  some  future  date  be  required  entered  the  presi- 
dential mind,  and  it  was  decided  to  lay  the  first 
track  thereafter  six  feet  to  one  side  of  the  center  of 
the  right  of  way;  yet  no  minute  of  any  change  ap- 
peared in  the  land-maps,  neither  in  the  deeds  nor 
elsewhere,  so  far  as  the  successors  to  the  builders 
of  the  road  could  find.  The  fences  had  been 
built  so  irregularly  that  they  gave  no  certainty, 
scarcely  a  hint,  of  the  change,  and  by  no  means 
indicated  where  the  change  had  been  made.  Sus- 
pecting such  a  change,  however,  correspondence 
was  had  with  the  former  chief  engineer  and  with 
his  principal  assistant  ;  they  both  believed  it  had 
been  made,  did  not  recollect  where,  and  both 
remarked  that  the  land-maps  ought  to  show  it. 
Finally  it  was  remembered  that  among  the  assist- 
ant engineers  who  had  been  stationed  on  many 
parts  of  the  road  was  a  painstaking  man  who  kept 
a  diary,  and  from  that  invaluable  record  he  kindly 
sent  an  extract  which  gave  all  the  information 


PRESER  VA  TION  OF  RECORDS.  2 1 

required.  Several  law  suits  were  necessary  to  main- 
tain the  boundaries  established  by  this  memoran- 
dum; yet,  as  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
of  road  were  affected  by  it,  they  had  to  be  carried 
through. 

The  land  atlas  is  a  convenient  place  in  which  to 
note  the  position,  character  and  elevation  of  bench- 
marks, referred  to  the  base  of  levels  adopted  for 
the  profiles  of  the  line  ;  and  a  profile  of  the  natural 
surface  plotted  upon  the  maps  is  sometimes  of 
the  greatest  value  and  convenience.  It  is  well 
enough  to  add  the  grade  line ;  but  that  is  so  much 
departed  from,  even  during  construction,  as  to  be 
of  little  importance.  The  base  adopted  for  its 
levels  should  be  noted  upon  the  title  page  of  the 
atlas ;  also  the  date  when  the  atlas  was  made. 
Indeed,  every  plan  or  drawing  which  issues  from 
an  engineer's  office  should  be  very  distinctly  dated. 
In  order  that  one  copy  of  this  valuable  atlas, 
which  we  have  taken  so  much  pains  to  describe, 
shall  be  certainly  preserved,  the  several  copies 
should  not  be  kept  together,  that  is,  in  the  same 
building :  the  distribution  of  them  depends  upon 
the  final  organization  adopted.  The  most  natural 
destination  would  be  one  copy  to  the  superin- 
tendent's office,  one  to  the  chief  engineer's,  and 
one  to  the  attorney's,  provided  each  of  these  had 
a  fire-proof  receptacle  for  his  copy. 

Although  great  trouble,  uncertainty  and  expense 
must  attend  the  loss  of  the  title  deeds  of  a  ra>\- 


22  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

way  company,  yet  such  losses  occur  every  little 
while  even  with  companies  which  are  believed  to 
be  quite  perfectly  organized.  Mention  is  made 
of  a  great  railroad  corporation  which  stored  these 
papers  for  fifteen  years  in  a  cupboard,  in  shameful 
disorder ;  at  last  a  fire  destroyed  every  vestige  of 
them  and  of  its  land-maps,  so  that  its  whole  line 
required  to  be  resurveyed,  and  it  was  years  before 
the  company's  records  could  be  restored. 

The  cost  to  a  corporation  of  a  vault  for  the 
storage  of  its  valuable  papers  would  be  small,  in 
comparison  with  the  expense  which  their  loss 
entails ;  so  that  it  may  be  held  to  be  obligatory 
upon  the  officers  of  a  company  to  provide,  from 
the  first,  for  the  positive  safety  of  its  valuable 
documents.  A  vault  need  not  be  burglar-proof, 
only  dry  and  fire-proof  ;  it  can  be  cheaply  built 
inside  or  outside  of  almost  any  building ;  it  should 
be  convenient  of  access  from  the  offices,  other- 
wise the  papers  will  not  be  regularly  returned 
to  it. 

But,  however  carefully  the  records  and  titles 
may  be  preserved,  the  land  acquired  may  be  lost 
by  neglect,  as  hinted  in  the  preceding  anecdote  of 
the  unrecorded  change  in  the  position  of  the  first 
track.  The  boundaries  of  the  railroad  company's 
property  should  be  remorselessly  fenced,  with  per- 
fect exactness,  from  the  beginning;  heedless  of 
the  requests  and  suggestions  which  will  be  made 
by  adjoining  proprietors,  who  will  wish  to  use  the 


RETAIN  POSSESSION.  23 

margins  of  the  railroad  territory  until  they  shall 
be  required  for  the  uses  of  the  company. 

At  first,  such  requests  do  not  appear  unreason- 
able ;  but  they  should  always  be  refused,  for  if 
the  property  is  not  included  within  the  fences 
from  the  beginning,  it  is  very  likely  to  be  for- 
gotten until  too  late ;  the  second  fence  will  follow 
fhe  line  of  the  first,  and  so  on.  Twenty  years,  a 
short  period  in  the  life  of  a  corporation,  will  give 
the  adverse  party,  who  has  occupied  it,  permanent 
possession,  of  which  advantage  will  surely  be 
taken ;  a  less  period  gives  a  right  of  way  across 
or  over  land  which  has  been  used  for  a  lane,  or 
for  the  public  to  travel  over.  It  might  be  worth 
while,  upon  roads  approaching  the  age  of  twenty 
years'  existence,  to  have  the  position  of  their 
fences  compared  with  their  correct  place,  before  it 
is  forever  too  late  to  get  possession  of  what  land 
has  not  been  fenced  in. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  many  railway 
companies  are  the  owners  of  houses  occupied  by 
their  employes  or  by  strangers,  from  which  they 
ought  to  receive  rent  regularly,  but  do  not ;  it 
sometimes  happens  that  only  some  old  trackman 
or  other  ancient  employe  knows  that  the  build- 
ings belong  to  the  company.  From  this  it 
will  be  seen  how  important  it  is  to  prepare  for 
the  treasurer  and  paymaster  a  rent-roll  from  the 
beginning,  on  which  the  location  of  every  house, 
name  of  occupant,  if  any,  and  rent  collectible 
monthly  should  duly  appear. 


24  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

Akin  to  the  preservation  of  a  company's  title 
deeds,  is  that  of  the  materials  for  its  history,  such 
as  the  reports  made  from  time  to  time  by  its  chief 
officers,  and  particularly  the  annual  reports, 
whether  printed  or  not ;  but  especially  if  printed, 
for  such  documents  are  mistakenly  believed  to 
take  care  of  themselves.  The  secretary  is 
naturally  the  proper  officer  upon  whom  to  de"- 
volve  this  duty.  We  shall  never  know  how  few 
railroad  corporations  possess  even  one  complete 
file  of  their  annual  reports  ;  yet  it  is  known  that 
many  of  the  most  important  of  them  have  not 
such  a  collection. 

They  should  be  bound  in  volumes  as  fast  as 
they  accumulate  enough  to  warrant  it.  There 
should  be  several  copies  of  each  report  so  pre- 
served, for  the  volumes  will  constantly  be  wanted 
for  reference  by  the  various  departments ;  quite 
as  likely  by  the  law  department  as  by  any. 

All  contracts  of  importance  should  be  printed, 
so  that  copies  may  be  distributed  to  the  officers 
whose  duty  it  is  to  execute  them,  and  as  a 
security  against  loss. 

It  is  not  uncommon  tofind  division  superintend- 
ents, master  mechanics  and  others  acting  under 
contracts  of  which  they  have  no  knowledge,  hav- 
ing never  even  seen  a  copy  of  them. 


CHAPTER  III. 


DRAINAGE. 

RESULTS  OF  BAD  DRAINAGE — DITCHES  AT  TOP  OF  SLOPE — TILE 
DRAINS — POLE  DRAINS — DRAINING  YARDS — DITCHING — 
PROVISION  AGAINST  FLOODS. 

There  is  probably  no  written  book  treating  of 
the  construction  of  roads  or  of  railroads  in  which 
the  necessity  of  drainage  is  not  more  or  less  in- 
sisted upon ;  yet  in  the  building  of  our  railways  it 
really  seems  to  be  the  last  matter  to  be  attended 
to.  Examine  any  newly  opened  road,  and  you 
will  see  that  the  engineers  have  been  careful  to 
have  the  works  completed  with  care,  to  conform 
to  the  standard  sections.  The  assistant  in  charge 
of  any  division  has  possibly  quarreled  with  the 
contractor  a  half-dozen  times  about  each  cutting, 
in  order  to  get  the  slopes  dressed  to  a  true  plane, 
instead  of  being  left  a  warped  surface.  It  would 


26  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

be  a  marvel,  nevertheless,  if  any  measures  had 
been  taken  to  preserve  the  slopes,  or  the  ditches 
at  the  bottom  of  them,  which  are  relied  upon  to 
drain  the  ballast.  Generally  the  first  hard  rains 
of  spring,  aided  by  the  thawing  of  the  frozen  earth, 
suffice  to  break  down  the  slopes,  fill  up  the  ditches, 
and  reduce  the  force  engaged  upon  maintenance 
of  way  to  a  condition  of  despair  ;  for  the  ballast 
must  become  saturated  with  water,  the  outer 
portion  of  it  gets  filled  with  mud,  destroying  its 
usefulness  in  great  part ;  it  is  not  unusual  for  the 
track  to  be  floated  by  the  mud  and  water,  before 
the  ditching  train  can  remove  enough  of  the 
sloughing  banks  to  enable  the  water  to  run  away 
at  the  sides  of  the  cut.  Matters  are  the  worst  in 
clay  cuttings,  of  course,  although  bad  enough  in 
any  wet  soil ;  that  is,  in  any  soil  which  does  not 
drain  itself,  as  sand  or  gravel  will  do,  if  the  clay 
substratum  is  not  too  near.  If  the  sloughing  is 
very  bad,  it  is  probable  that  a  heavy  stone  wall 
will  be  decided  upon  as  the  proper  thing  to  hold 
the  slopes  back  ;  or,  where  stone  is  scarce,  the  pile- 
driver  will  be  called  into  requisition  to  drive  a 
stout  row  or  two  of  piles  to  resist  the  forces  of 
Nature  ;  but  the  cause  of  the  sloughing  is  un- 
affected, it  continues  to  undermine  the  banks, 
frequently  topples  over  the  wall,  and  after  a  few 
years  surmounts  the  piles  or  crowds  them  into  the 
cut. 

Meanwhile,  the  mud-train  has  had  to  struggle 


DITCHES  A  T  THE   TOP.  27 

each  fall  and  spring  with  the  mud  which  would 
get  over,  through  or  around  the  protection  which 
had  been  erected. 

Now,  in  most  cases,  all  this  trouble  could  have 
been  avoided,  the  perfect  form  of  the  slopes  and 
ditches,  as  well  as  the  integrity  of  the  ballast, 
would  have  been  preserved,  and  no  one  would 
ever  have  thought  of  building  a  slope  wall  or 
driving  piles  to  hold  back  the  mud,  if  the  engineer 
who  built  the  road  had  looked  to  the  drainage. 

It  may  be  broadly  stated,  as  a  general  proposi- 
tion, that  if  the  water  is  removed  from  any  bank 
of  earth,  that  bank  will  stand  at  a  slope  of  one 
and  a  half  to  one,  the  usual  earth  slope,  or  at  a 
steeper  angle  ;  if  the  water  is  not  removed  from  a 
wet  bank,  the  slope  will  take  a  flatter  angle, 
depending  upon  the  degree  of  its  saturation. 
The  most  effectual  mode  of  removing  the  water 
from  a  wet  cut  is  the  cheapest  one  to  adopt ;  but 
remove  the  water  you  must,  if  you  wish  for  peace 
and  quiet.  It  is  best  -to  begin  at  the  top  ;  most 
railroad  men  begin  at  the  bottom,  because  that  is 
nearest  to  the  track,  it  may  be  supposed.  If  the 
cutting  is  through  sloping  ground,  as  most  cut- 
tings are,  one  side  of  the  cut  will  be  exposed  to 
the  flow  of  water  from  the  ground  above  it,  which 
should  be  intercepted  by  a  ditch  at  the  top  of  the 
slope  ;  a  short  distance  back  from  the  edge  is  the 
best.  If  the  surface  soil  is  porous,  resting  upon  a 
clay  subsoil,  the  ditch  should  be  lined,  if  possible, 


28  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING, 

with  cement  or  bitumen,  or  with  plank  if  neces- 
sary ;  the  object  being  to  catch  the  water  and 
carry  it  away,  as  an  eave-trough  does,  not  letting 
it  soak  down  into  the  clay  below,  which  is  usually 
too  wet  already. 

The  next  place  to  give  trouble  is  the  foot  of 
the  slope ;  the  water  which  falls  upon  the  slope, 
that  which  percolates  through  the  bank,  and  that 
which  comes  from  the  ballast,  unite  to  soak  and 
thereby  to  soften  the  earth  at  the  bottom  of  the 
slope,  which  has  to  sustain  the  entire  load  of  the 
hill  above,  which  it  can  do  only  so  long  as  it  is 
dry  and  consequently  firm  ;  as  soon  as  it  becomes 
soft  it  must  yield  to  the  pressure  from  above. 
Get  this  water  away  as  quickly  as  you  can  ;  you 
can  not  be  too  quick  about  it.  If  your  cut  is  upon 
a  very  steep  grade,  it  is  possible  that  you  may  be 
able  to  run  the  water  off  in  the  ditches,  at  the  foot 
of  the  slopes  ;  if  on  any  ordinary  grades,  the  best 
way  is  to  lay  TILE  DRAINS  in  the  bottom  of  the 
ditches  at  a  depth,  say  5  ft.,  sufficient  to  have 
them  secure  from  frost,  and  so  ready  to  work  con- 
tinuously day  and  night,  summer  and  winter, 
which  they  will  do  if  put  below  frost.  If  any 
springs  are  discovered  in  the  slopes  of  the  cutting, 
they  should  be  piped  into  the  main  drains  which 
you  lay  in  the  bottom  of  the  ditches  ;  if  the  whole 
is  wet,  it  can  be  perfectly  drained  by  lines  of 
small  tiles  laid  diagonally  down  the  slopes,  at  inter- 
vals of  from  20  to  40  ft.,  according  to  the  amount 


TILE  DRAINS.  29 

of  water  to  be  taken  care  of.  A  little  experience, 
with  a  little  good  judgment,  will  enable  any  one 
to  proportion  the  sizes  of  tiles  used  to  the  length 
and  wetness  of  the  cutting  to  be  drained.  Begin- 
ning at  the  mouth  of  a  cutting  with  tiles  of  5  in. 
in  diameter,  they  may  diminish  in  size  to  3  in.  at 
the  summit  of  the  grade  to  which  the  tiles  are 
laid,  or  at  the  upper  end  of  the  cut.  Two  or  three 
lines  of  tiles  may  be  laid  in  the  same  trench  if 
the  quantity  of  water  requires  more  room  than  is 
afforded  by  one  line.  The  tiles  for  piping  off  the 
water  in  the  slopes  should  not  be  of  less  than  2  in. 
bore.  The  drain  tiles  of  round  section  are  the 
best,  as  least  likely  to  be  removed  out  of  line,  as 
a  little  reflection  will  show.  They  are  frequently 
made  with  flat  bottoms ;  these,  if  canted  or  rolled 
over  by  any  cause,  must  get  out  of  line,  and  so 
interrupt  the  continuity  of  the  drain.  They 
should  be-  one  foot  in  length  ;  the  frequency  of  the 
joints  is  an  advantage,  as  it  allows  the  water  to 
get  readily  into  the  drain.  Whoever  begins  the 
use  of  drain-tiles  will  suppose  that  he  must  pro- 
vide some  porous  material,  like  gravel,  to  cover 
them  with,  in  order  to  afford  a  free  passage  for 
the  water  into  the  drain  ;  but  he  need  have  no 
anxiety  about  that,  for  the  water  is  bound  to  get 
in  if  the  drain  is  there.  A  good  stiff  clay  is  the 
best  covering  for  the  tiles,  as  it  does  not  wash  nor 
fall  into  them  at  the  joints  as  fine  gravel  does. 
In  some  very  soft  quicksand  cuts,  in  which  the  fine 


30  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

sand  filled  the  tiles  rapidly,  destroying  their  use- 
fulness, a  thick  sod  was  laid  in  the  bed  of  the 
ditch,  the  grassy  side  up  ;  the  tiles  were  laid  in 
this  and  covered  with  another  sod,  grassy  side, 
down  ;  the  ditch  was  then  filled  up  with  earth. 
The  result  was  a  very  successful  drain.  When 
round  tiles  are  used,  the  .bottom  prepared  for 
them  should  be  semi-circular  and  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible of  the  exact  size  of  the  tiles,  which  is  easily 
accomplished  by  having  tools  of  the  proper  form 
and  dimensions.  The  men  who  are  accustomed 
to  laying  these  drains  have  acquired  much  skill, 
and  in  ordinary  soils  do  not  disturb  or  handle  any 
more  material  than  is  necessary  to  allow  the  inser- 
tion of  the  tiles;  they  will  often  make  an  opening 
of  less  than  one  foot  in  width  at  the  top  of  a  ditch 
5  ft.  deep  ;  and  they  will  contract  for  laying  such 
drains  at  a  price  per  rod  which  will  astonish  the 
inexperienced  engineer  or  track-master.  If  an 
expert  can  be  got  to  superintend  the  first  opera- 
tions, he  will  be  cheap  at  almost  any  price  ;  yet 
no  one  who  will  act  upon  these  hints  can  go  far 
wrong ;  nor  will  the  cost  of  his  work  be  any  thing 
like  that  of  not  draining  his  road  bed,  if  it  is  wet. 
When  the  drain  is  completed,  if  he  will  notice  the 
flow  of  water  from  it  and  calculate  the  quantity 
which  flows  out  each  day,  and  consider  that  it 
never  entirely  ceases ;  he  will  begin  to  wonder 
where  it  all  went  to  before  the  drain  was  built, 
and  he  will  be  entirely  satisfied  that  the  cost  of 


POLE  DRAIN'S.  31 

the  drain  was  small  compared  with  the  resulting 
benefit.  In  a  double-track  cut,  perfection  of 
drainage  is  secured  by  laying  another  line  of  tiles 
between  the  tracks. 

If,  in  summer,  there  should  be  little  or  no  water 
passing  through  the  drains,  the  moles,  snakes  and 
even  muskrats  will  harbor  in  the  ends  of  them, 
obstructing  them  with  their  nests.  To  guard 
against  such  intrusions  requires  some  precautions, 
as  building  a  small  trap#  or  catch  basin  near  the 
mouth  of  the  drain  ;  a  U  trap  has  been  used  with 
success  made  of  baked  clay  like  the  tiles.  All 
such  devices  require  to  be  cleaned  out  frequently, 
for  the  mud  brought  down  in  the  water  is  deposited 
in  them  ;  if  not  cleaned  out,  the  drains  would 
become  obstructed,  which  would  injure  them  seri- 
ously. 

In  very  wet  cuts,  where  the  quicksand  flows  in 
faster  than  it  can  be  removed,  a  good  drain  can  be 
laid  of  poles,  roughly  trimmed  of  their  limbs,  laid 
heads  and  points,  so  as  to  keep  the  drain  of  uni- 
form section.  Such  a  drain  from  12  in.  to  1 8  in. 
square,  will  pass  a  great  quantity  of  water,  and 
one  in  each  ditch  will  drain  almost  any  cutting  ;  if 
there  is  plenty  of  water,  it  will  last  forever,  and 
keep  itself  clear ;  if  there  is  not  a  large  flow  of 
water,  it  will  soon  become  filled  up. 

Let  any  person  in  charge  of  roadway  select  his 
wettest  cutting  for  experiment,  if  he  has  any  doubt 
as  to  the  efficacy  of  the  mode  of  drainage  here 


32  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

recommended  ;  and  he  will  certainly  find  his  track 
lie  as  still  in  the  winter,  in  an  excavation  so 
drained,  as  if  it  were  on  a  bank  of  gravel.  But  it 
is  not  important  to  use  the  methods  here  described  ; 
it  is  of  vital  importance  to  get  rid  of  the  water,  in 
one  way  or  another. 

The  drain  tiles  will  be  found  of  inestimable 
value  for  the  drainage  of  large  station  yards  where 
ditches  would  be  inconvenient,  and  even  in  such 
places  as  will  admit  of  ^surface  ditches,  because 
they  can  and  should  be  placed  deep  under  the  sur- 
face ;  for  it  is  of  great  benefit  to  remove  all  water 
to  a  distance  of  5  or  6  ft.  from  the  ballast  upon 
which  the  tracks  lie.  Capillary  attraction  will 
raise  moisture  from  5  ft.  in  depth  in  sand  or  loam  ; 
and  when  freezing  weather  begins,  the  dryer  the 
ballast  and  the  soil  upon  which  it  rests  may  be,  at 
the  depth  to  which  freezing  extends,  the  less 
heaving  of  the  ground  there  will  be,  and  conse- 
quently the  slighter  will  be  the  disturbance  of  the 
track.  In  bad  soils,  the  grounds  surrounding 
shops,  engine  houses  and  station  buildings  are  wet 
and  uncomfortable  in  autumn  and  spring,  or  in 
any  wet  weather.  This  may  be  completely  pre- 
vented by  tile  drains,  provided  an  outlet  for  them 
can  be  secured.  Of  course  the  more  fall  there  is 
for  any  drain,  within  reasonable  limits,  the  better 
for  the  drain  ;  yet  even  when  carried  level  they 
will  do  a  great  deal  of  good.  By  their  use,  the 
thickness  of  the  ballast  or  of  gravel  under  tracks 


DRAINING  YARDS.  33 

and  around  stations  may  be  reduced  about 
one-half — an  economy  which  will  pay  well  for 
laying  the  tiles,  where  ballasting  materials  are 
scarce. 

Among  the  most  difficult  places  to  maintain 
in  busy  yards  are  the  crossings  of  tracks,  particu- 
larly those  that  cross  nearly  at  right  angles. 
Knowing  this,  the  person  in  charge  of  the  track 
generally  excavates  deeply  at  such  a  point  and 
fills  in  with  broken  stone  or  with  the  best  mate- 
rial he  can  get,  providing  in  this  way  an  excellent 
drainage  well  for  the  adjacent  road-beds.  If  he 
will  supplement  his  labors  by  laying  drain  tiles  in 
each  direction  through  the  bed  of  ballast  which 
he  has  prepared  for  his  crossing,  taking  care  to 
give  them  a.  free  discharge,  he  will  find  that  he 
will  need  do  nothing  more  for  that  crossing  until  it 
is  worn  out.  Some  idea  of  the  quantity  of  water 
discharged  by  these  drains  may  be  conveyed  to 
the  inexperienced  if  they  will  notice  the  flow 
from  the  eave-spouts  of  a  small  shed  during  a 
smart  shower,  and  remember  that  an  equal  volume 
of  water  falls  upon  the  same  area  of  track  or 
yard,  soaking  the  ground  permanently,  if  means 
are  not  provided  for  its  removal.  A  perfectly  dry 
cellar  under  a  warehouse  in  a  wet  clay  soil  was 
secured  by  the  use  of  these  drain  tiles ;  and  in 
another  instance  they  maintained  the  bottom  of 
the  pit  of  a  transfer  table  in  an  excellent  dry  state. 
A  water  section  was  secured  near  a  very  wet  cut 


34  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

by  turning  the  drain  into  a  cistern  ;  and  it  hap- 
pened in  this  case,  as  it  might  in  many  others,  that 
the  cistern  afforded  the  most  convenient  outlet 
for  the  drains  that  could  be  had. 

There  are  thousands  of  miles  of  imperfectly 
ballasted  or  wholly  unballasted  road-bed  in  this 
country,  lying  near  the  natural  surface  of  the 
ground,  which  would  be  rendered  passably  safe 
against  the  worst  effects  of  wet  and  frost,  if  only 
a  deep  ditch  were  dug  on  each  side  of  the  road- 
bed to  allow  the  water  falling  on  the  surface  to 
flow  quickly  to  a  considerable  depth  below  the 
surface  on  which  the  sleepers  rest.  The  chief 
reason  why  broken  stone  and  gravel  make  the  best 
ballast  is  that  they  permit  the  water  to  pass 
through  and  to  flow  away  from  them  so  rapidly; 
if  other  materials  can  be  so  treated  as  to  approxi- 
mate to  their  condition,  they  will  approach  just  so 
nearly  to  them  in  value  for  supporting  the  track. 
On  poor  railways,  where  expenditures  must  be 
kept  at  a  minimum,  and  where  the  track-master  is 
allowed  only  men  enough  on  each  section  to 
operate  the  hand-car,  it  often  seems  quite  impos- 
sible to  get  any  ditching  done,  however  sore  the 
need.  The  section  foreman's  idea  of  usefulness 
and  duty  is  confined  to  "  keeping  up  the  joints 
and  centers ;"  he  and  his  men  are  always  tamping 
the  ties  and  disturbing  the  road-bed,  when  they 
are  not  screwing  up  the  joint  bolts  or  riding  over 
the  section  on  the  hand-car.  These  are  important 


DITCHING.  35 

matters,  of  course,  but  may  be  overdone,  while 
ditching  is  left  undone.  Under  this  conviction, 
in  the  straitened  circumstances  which  have  been 
described,  and  determined  that  the  necessary 
ditches  should  be  cut  before  the  autumnal  rains, 
the  section  foremen,  upon  a  hundred  miles  of  new 
road  in  operation,  were  told  that  they  must  not 
touch  a  joint,  neither  surface  nor  tamp  any  part  of 
the  track,  unless  it  became  positively  dangerous  ; 
they  must  devote  their  time  and  energy  to  ditch- 
ing ;  any  foreman  found  doing  any  thing  except 
ditching  would  be  dismissed,  unless  he  could  offer 
an  acceptable  excuse.  These  orders  were  issued 
in  August,  with  the  result  that  by  the  first  of 
November  the  entire  line  was  well  ditched,  at  all 
important  places,  and  the  track  passed  through 
the  winter  and  spring  very  comfortably,  notwith- 
standing a  lamentable  want  of  ballast. 

The  neophyte  placed  in  charge  of  a  division  of 
track  should  be  warned  that  the  section  foreman 
of  common  mold  always  begins  a  ditch  at  the 
upper  end,  and,  however  well  he  may  carry  it  on, 
he  never  opens  the  lower  end  of  it,  so  that  it  may 
discharge  freely,  until  the  track-master  finds  the 
ditch  full  of  water  and  orders  the  necessary  out- 
let to  be  provided.  It  is  best,  therefore,  to  give 
special  directions  about  this,  in  each  case,  to 
begin  with. 

The  earth  thrown  out  of  the  ditches  should  be 
evenly  spread  over  the  surface  outside  of  them, 


36  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

making  a  gentle  slope  toward  the  ditch,  when- 
ever possible.  The  sooner  this  is  done  the 
cheaper  it  will  be  done  ;  for  freshly  moved  earth 
shovels  much  easier  than  that  which  has  been  con- 
solidated by  rain.  When  the  earth  has  been 
spread  in  this  way,  the  roadway  can  be  cultivated 
or  easily  kept  clear  of  brush  and  weeds,  and  as 
nothing  is  more  discreditable  than  a  disor- 
derly roadway,  this  is  a  matter  worthy  of  atten- 
tion. 

All  this  has  no  reference  to  what  is  considered 
the  main  drainage  system  of  a  railroad,  which 
looks  to  provision  for  passing  the  streams  and 
rivers  safely  through  or  under  it ;  only  on  rare 
occasions  over  it.  There  are  many  large  and 
scientific  treatises  on  these  matters,  which  should 
be  studied  before  the  tyro  undertakes  to  act  as 
engineer  in  their  construction ;  yet  there  are  a 
few  hints  not  found  in  all  the  text-books,  which 
may  be  useful. 

In  this  country,  the  habits  of  all  streams  are 
likely  to  be  very  much  altered  by  the  building  of 
a  railroad  into  any  new  part  of  it.  Generally  the 
marshes  will  be  ditched,  the  woods  will  be  felled 
and  other  changes  made,  which  wTill  concentrate 
the  water  into  fewer  channels  than  it  originally 
flowed  through,  and  it  will  reach  them  much 
quicker  than  it  formerly  did  ;  consequently 
the  water-way  provided  for  them  should  be  very 
much  greater  than  that  which  they  would  require 


PROVISION  FOR  FLOODS.  37 

if  they  could  be  expected  to  retain  their  original 
size.  The  very  best  judgment  and  the  largest 
conceivable  allowance  may  altogether  fail  (and 
often  do  fail)  to  anticipate  to  what  dimensions 
any  stream  may  attain ;  but  as  a  minimum  the 
following  has  proved  a  tolerably  safe  rule :  Ascer- 
tain the  area  occupied  by  the  stream,  at  its  high- 
est known  flood  ;  double  this  to  arrive  at  the  area 
to  be  provided  before  the  water  shall  rise  above 
its  previous  flood  level ;  and  allow  at  least  a  half 
more  of  room  for  extra  floods,  before  your  struct- 
ure can  be  considered  full. 

But,  however  much  room  may  have  been  pro- 
vided, the  labors  of  the  engineer  may  come  to 
naught  from  the  neglect  to  construct  or  maintain 
a  clear  channel  for  the  water  to  enter  in  a  direct 
manner  or  to  flow  freely  away  from  the  bridge,  or 
arch  or  culvert.  So  often  are  these  channels 
neglected,  particularly  under  deep  embankments, 
where  it  is  somewhat  difficult  or  fatiguing  to  visit 
them,  that  the  track-master  or  superintendent 
who  has  some  such  structures  under  his  charge, 
which  he  has  not  lately  looked  after,  would  do 
well  to  take  a  hand-car  or  special  engine  at  once 
and  see  how  they  appear.  They  have  been  often 
found  blocked  with  brush  and  flood  wood,  when 
they  appeared  clear  and  right  from  above  ;  or  the 
channel  has  begun  to  wash  out  at  the  lower  end 
of  the  paving  to  a  depth  which  the  next  flood 
would  render  dangerous  ;  or  the  last  flood  started 


38  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

an  opening  into  the  embankment  behind  one  of 
the  wings,  etc..  for  all  which  evils  there  is  an  easy 
remedy,  if  taken  in  time  ;  but  after  the  next 
storm  it  may  be  too  late. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

MAIN   TRACK. 
THE  IDEAL  TRACK — BALLAST — SURFACING — JOINTS — SLEEPERS. 

The  foundation  of  all  good  railroading  is  a  good 
track,  without  which,  no  matter  how  superior  all 
other  appliances  and  equipments  may  be,  there 
can  be  no  success.  Speed,  safety  and  economy 
in  operating  expenses,  all  depend  upon  the 
character  of  the  track.  Every  other  department 
of  the  administration  may  be  pinched  or  slighted 
with  less  evil  results  than  that  of  the  maintenance 
of  way.  Doubtless  the  absolute  minimum  of 
expenses  would  exist  upon  a  road  where  the  con- 
dition of  the  track  should  be  perfect,  with  nothing 
to  be  desired  in  the  way  of  betterment.  It  might, 
indeed,  cost  too  much,  rendering  the  interest 
account  too  large  in  comparison  with  the  traffic 
carried  over  it  ;  but  the  expenses  of  operation,  as 
repairs  of  roadway,  of  engines,  of  cars,  would  be 
less  than  have  ever  been  realized. 


40  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

An  ideal  track,  such  as  this,  may  not  be 
altogether  attainable,  yet  it  should  be  continually 
approached,  with  the  knowledge  that  every  de- 
parture from  the  ideal  condition  is  a  certain  cause 
of  expense.  This  perfect  condition  demands,  first, 
that  the  surfaces  of  the  rails  shall  be  exactly  true 
to  the  plane  of  the  grade,  so  that  no  vertical 
shock  shall  be  given  to  the  wheels  as  they  roll 
over  the  track ;  and  second,  that  the  line  of  the 
rails  shall  be  so  true  that  the  flanges  of  the  wheels 
will  seldom  touch  them,  and  then  without  a  jar. 
If  the  speed  of  all  trains  were  uniform,  the 
elevation  of  the  outer  rails^could  be  so  exactly  ad- 
justed as  to  fulfill  this  second  demand  upon  curves, 
as  well  as  upon  straight  lines;  since,  however,  the 
speed  of  trains  varies  widely,  it  is  necessary  to 
"  split  the  difference  "  and  to  accept  an  elevation 
too  great  for  low  speeds  and  really  less  than  is 
desirable  for  high  speeds.  It  is  safer,  with  our 
tendency  to  higher  speeds,  to  adopt  a  higher 
elevation  than  the  average  rate  would  require. 
This  second  demand  will  also  compel  an  addition 
of  width  to  the  gauge,  in  proportion  to  the  rate 
of  curvature.  A  neglect  to  "  spread  the  gauge  " 
in  this  way,  in  the  turn-outs  for  sidings,  is  a  fre- 
quent cause  for  derailment  in  switching.  This 
widening  of  the  gauge  may  be  larger  in  amount 
than  is  necessary  to  conform  to  the  rule,  rather 
than  too  little.  Every  one  should  know  where  to 
find  the  rules  and  tables  for  the  super-elevation  of 


THE  IDEAL  TRACK.  41 

rails  and  for  the  widening  of  gauge,  for  they  are 
advertised  in  the  Railroad  Gazette. 

Too  little  care  is  taken,  in  general,  to  secure 
perfection  of  line.  After  curves  have  once  been 
laid  according  to  centers  from  the  engineers,  they 
are  left  for  years,  perhaps  forever,  subject  to  the 
eccentricities  of  vision  of  each  succeeding  section 
foreman.  No  human  eye  can  be  relied  upon  to 
run  a  true  curve  unaided.  So,  after  track  has 
been  raised  to  final  grade,  each  curve  should  be 
carefully  run  with  a  transit,  and  centers,  not  more 
that  50  ft.  apart,  should  be  permanently  fixed  as 
a  constant  guide  for  the  trackmen.  Perfection 
can  not  be  arrived  at  upon  straight  lines  without 
the  use  of  the  transit,  and  it  would  be  profitable 
upon  the  larger  roads  to  furnish  for  each  section 
a  cheap,  plain  transit,  without  graduated  circle  or 
compass,  to  secure  better  alignment  and  to  save 
the  time  of  men  when  lining  track.  Upon  small 
roads,  where  there  is  no  permanent  corps  of 
engineers,  it  would  pay  well  to  employ  a  force 
temporarily,  to  fix  the  lines  by  permanent  stakes. 

It  is  not  very  difficult  to  put  a  piece  of  road 
into  a  condition  nearly  approaching  the  ideal 
perfect  state  just  described;  the  important 
problem  for  practical  men  is,  how  to  keep  it  so. 
In  a  perfectly  dry  climate  this  problem  would 
resolve  itself  into  a  question  of  the  proper  num 
ber  of  suitable  sleepers,  and  of  any  material  under 
them,  which  should  have  sufficient  stability  to 


42  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

prevent  their  being  pressed  into  it  by  the  passing 
loads  ;  but  in  our  climate,  the  rain  or  snow  will 
saturate  and  render  semi-fluid  all  materials  which 
will  absorb  much  moisture;  as  soon  as  wet,  these 
materials,  such  as  loam  or  clay,  yield  to  the  pres- 
sure, and  the  labor  which  may  have  been  expended 
in  adjusting  the  track  is  lost.  Following  this 
comes  the  frost,  which  heaves  the  wet  soil  up, 
carrying  the  track  along  with  it,  until  the  spring, 
when  the  particles  of  ice  which  have  distended 
the  earth  are  melted,  and  it  slumps  down,  affording 
.no  support  whatever  to  the  track.  Evidently 
those  materials  which  will  hold  the  least  moisture 
are  the  best  to  use  for  maintaining  a  track,  and 
the  best  among  such  is  broken  stone,  whether  in 
the  form  of  gravel  or  broken  artificially  ;  of  which, 
it  has  been  found  by  experience,  that  about  two 
feet  in  depth,  upon  well  settled  embankments  or 
in  thoroughly  drained  cuttings,  will  maintain  a 
severely  worked  track  in  fair  condition  through- 
out the  year.  By  so  much  as  this  thickness  of 
ballast  is  reduced,  by  so  much  will  the  labor  be 
increased  which  will  be  necessary  to  keep  the 
track  in  an  equally  good  state ;  yet  even  six 
inches  in  depth  under  the  sleepers  will  be  of  great 
value.  Broken  stone  is  superior  to  gravel  in 
general  for  ballast,  because  there  is  usually  some 
admixture  of  loam  or  clay,  or  of  too  fine  sand,  in 
gravel  in  its  natural  state.  If  these  objectionable 
materials  were  to  be  screened  out,  or,  still  better, 


BALLAST.  43 

washed  out,  a  very  excellent  ballast  might  be  in 
many  places  procured,  at  a  less  cost  than  by 
breaking  up  stone.  Where  a  good  supply  of 
water  can  be  had  the  cost  of  washing  gravel  need 
not  be  excessive.  In  hydraulic  mining  the  ordi- 
nary cost  of  washing  gravel  for  gold  is  stated  at 
from  two  to  four  cents  per  cubic  yard ;  for  the 
hardest  material,  cemented  gravel,  it  sometimes 
amounts  to  12  cents. 

Of  natural  materials  the  next  in  value  for  bal- 
last is  very  coarse  sand,  because  it  will  retain  less 
moisture  than  any  other  except  stone  in  a  coarse 
form ;  yet  it  has  not  stability  enough  to  support  a 
track  permanently,  which,  when  ballasted  with 
sand,  requires  a  constant  and  large  expenditure  of 
labor  in  raising  and  retamping  it.  Sand  is  objec- 
tionable also  as  always  more  or  less  dusty.  Fur- 
nace slags,  and  even  hard-burned  brickbats,  have 
been  used  with  much  advantage  where  stone  and 
gravel  could  not  be  got.  They  are  friable,  and, 
like  soft  stones,  do  not  endure  well  the  tamping 
necessary  to  consolidate  the  ballast  under  the 
sleepers.  The  harder  the  stone  the  better,  if  it 
can  be  broken  into  cubes  of  from  one  to  two 
inches  on  the  side,  by  hammers  or  in  the  crusher. 
It  is  not  worth  while  to  put  expensive  ballast 
upon  new,  unsettled  embankments,  for  it  will  be 
lost ;  where  track  must  be  laid  upon  them  before 
they  have  become  consolidated,  it  should  be  sur- 
faced with  the  best  cheap  material  at  hand. 


44  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

A  track  laid  upon  good  ballast  of  sufficient 
thickness,  if  once  well  surfaced  and  tamped,  should 
require  very  little  labor  upon  it  afterward,  except 
as  renewals  are  needed  ;  but  when  laid  upon  a 
material  containing  loam  or  clay,  it  will  need  to 
be  constantly  readjusted ;  yet  it  may  be  raised 
and  tamped  too  often.  The  only  hope  with  bad 
materials  is  that  they  may  become  consolidated, 
and  shed  the  rain  instead  of  absorbing  it.  This 
can  be  promoted  by  giving  the  surface  as  steep  a 
slope  from  the  center  of  the  track  each  way,  to  the 
edge  of  the  embankment  or  ditch,  as  the  proper 
bedding  of  the  sleepers  will  allow.  If  the  earth 
has  been  freshly  stirred,  it  will  soak  in  all  the 
water  that  falls  upon  it  and  becomes  mud  ;  of 
course,  all  the  labor  which  has  been  expended  in 
raising  such  a  track  is  lost  during  the  first  heavy 
storm.  Bad  materials  should  never  be  tamped 
after  the  approach  of  the  rainy  season  ;  the  only 
way  then  to  raise  the  low  places  is  by  wooden 
shims  between  the  sleepers  and  the  rails  until  the 
dry  season  comes  round  again.  The  poorer  the 
ballast  the  more  grass  will  grow  in  it ;  when 
allowed  to  vegetate  undisturbed  it  will  soon  work 
much  harm  to  the  ballast,  and  ought  therefore  to 
be  promptly  removed.  Special  tools  are  made  for 
cutting  up  the  grass  in  gravelly  road-beds,  with- 
out disturbing  the  surface  too  deeply,  and  more 
rapidly  than  it  can  be  done  with  a  shovel. 

Next  in  importance  to  good  drainage  and  good 


RAILJOINTS.  45 

ballast,  in  the  maintenance  of  a  railroad,  is  a  first- 
rate  joint  for  the  rails.  For  a  very  long  time,  in 
this  country,  experiments  we:e  confined  to  seek- 
ing the  cheapest  device  which  would  carry  a  train 
safely;  it  did  not  enter  the  minds  of  men  to  in- 
vent the  best  possible  joint  regardless  of  cost,  as 
they  ought  to  have  done  first  ;  when,  having  found 
a  perfect  standard,  they  might  have  calculated 
how  far  they  could  afford  to  depart  from  it.  It  is 
likely  that  they  would  have  become  satisfied,  very 
soon,  that  the  best  joint  is  the  cheapest  in  the 
long  run  ;  for  it  is  a  difficult  thing  to  hold  together 
stiffly  the  adjacent  ends  of  two  shallow  bars,  such 
as  our  rails,  under  the  impact  of  the  heavily  loaded 
wheels  of  a  railroad  train.  The  first  fish-plates 
used  were  little  more  than  a  hinge  ;  the  short 
angle  plates  leave  something  to  be  desired  ;  laid 
between  the  sleepers,  they  certainly  have  not  ful- 
filled the  expectations  of  their  advocates;  length- 
ened to  extend  over  three  sleepers,  one  of  which 
is  under  the  joint,  they  make  a  splice  which 
carries  the  wheels  better  than  any  thing  yet 
tried. 

For  a  long  time,  it  has  been  an  unsettled  ques- 
tion whether  to  lay  the  joints,  in  the  two  lines  of 
rails  which  constitute  a  track,  opposite  or  alterna- 
ting ;  theory,  of  course,  woulci  counsel  that  they 
should  alternate,  yet  the  weak  joints  used  at  first 
caused  a  track  so  laid  to  impart  a  rolling  motion 
to  the  train,  which  was  more  disagreeable  that  the 


46  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

square  jump  made  when  the  joints  were  opposite ; 
a  remembrance  of  this  still  survives  among  old 
track-masters,  who  are  reluctant  to  believe  that 
this  objection  has  been  overcome  by  strengthen- 
ing the  joint ;  nevertheless,  they  may  convince 
themselves  of  the  truth  by  riding  over  a  good 
track  so  laid,  or  by  inspecting  the  diagrams  taken 
by  Mr.  P.  H.  Dudley's  admirable  testing  car, 
which  prove  it  conclusively. 

The  best  sleepers  (the  name  cross-tie  is  a  mis- 
taken use  of  a  word  which  belongs  to  the  bridge 
builders)  are  of  white  oak ;  they  should  be  peeled, 
with  ends  squared  exactly  to  length.  As  they 
cost  less  here  than  steel  rails,  we  can  afford  to  use 
more  of  them  under  the  rails,  rather  than  to  in- 
crease the  height  or  weight  of  the  rails,  one  or  the 
other  of  which  things  ought  to  be  done,  on  many 
of  our  railroads  ;  for  the  sleepers  should  be  so 
near  together  that  there  will  be  no  sensible  de- 
flection of  the  rails  between  them,  under  the 
heaviest  loads,  which  is  not  the  condition  now 
generally  existing.  An  extensive  use  of  iron  or 
steel  for  sleepers  will  not  probably  prevail  in-  this 
country,  for  many  years  yet.  The  impossibility 
of  getting  strong,  durable  timber  sleepers  at 
reasonable  cost,  has  led  to  the  use  of  metal  ones 
in  countries  where-there  is  very  little  or  no  frost ; 
in  this  land,  where  every  thing  is  more  or  less  rigid 
in  winter  from  freezing,  the  superior  elasticity  of 
wood  under  the  rails  will  continue  to  make  wooden 


SLEEPERS.  47 

sleepers  preferred  ;  and  if  they  were  to  be  creosot- 
ed,  they  might  prove  not  only  better  on  this  ac- 
count, and  cheaper,  but  even  as  durable  as  the 
iron  ones.  It  is  a  question  at  this  time,  worth  the 
attention  of  managers,  whether  or  not  it  would  be 
profitable  to  creosote  them  ;  probably  the  slightly 
increased  cost  of  handling  would  be  more  than 
repaid  by  the  increased  durability  of  the  sleepers, 
to  those  roads  which  import  their  supplies  of  them 
through  one  or  two  depots. 

Chestnut  and  the  best  Southern  yellow  pine 
rank  next  after  white  oak  in  value  for  sleepers; 
other  woods  are  either  very  much  inferior  to  these 
in  durability  in  their  natural  state,  or  are  to  be 
had  in  too  small  quantities  to  make  it  worth  while 
to  classify  them.  There  are  many  kinds  which 
would  be  very  valuable  if  creosoted  ;  the  requisites 
then  would  be  that  they  should  possess  a  firmness 
of  fiber  sufficient  to  stand  up  under  the  load  of 
trains,  and  to  hold  a  spike.  There  are  several 
other  processes  for  preserving  timber  which  would 
be  of  value,  yet  creosoting  has  established  itself  as 
the  most  satisfactory  one  for  sleepers. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TRACKMEN  AND   SIDINGS. 

THE  TREATMENT  OF  TRACKMEN  —  TOOLS  AND  EQUIP- 
MENT— SHOVELING  SNOW — LOCATING  SIDINGS — FROGS  AND 
SWITCHES. 

Although  the  better  the  track  the  fewer  the 
men  required  to  keep  it  in  good  order,  yet  a  cer- 
tain number  will  be  required  upon  any  track  to 
look  after  it  and  to  make  immediate  repairs  when 
needed ;  and,  as  in  other  work,  experience  is  of 
value  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  a 
laborer  on  track.  If  he  is  possessed  of  a  little 
judgment  he  will  waste  less  time,about  a  job  than 
if  he  has  none  ;  so  that  old  trackmen  who  have 
been  under  the  training  of  a  good  foreman  are 
entitled  to  be  classed  as  skilled  laborers,  and  a 
railroad  company  should  try,  by  a  little  increase 
of  wages  and  of  privileges,  to  keep  them  in  its 
service  rather  than  to  allow  them  to  be  replaced 
by  green  men.  The  same  is  true  as  to  foremen 
in  a  greater  degree.  They  are,  indeed,  every- 


TREA  TMENT  OF  TRA  CKMEN.  49 

where  paid  as  skilled  men ;  yet  the  value  to  a 
company  of  a  trusty  man,  who  is  acquainted  with 
his  section  and  who  has  learned  how  to  keep  his 
men  well  at  work,  and  how  to  teach  them,  is  not 
always  appreciated.  Such  men  are  rare  and  are  the 
most  necessary  to  the  proper  maintenance  of  the 
track.  It  should  be  the  aim  of  every  trackmaster 
or  supervisor  to  increase  their  number ;  for  this 
reason,  and  to  add  to  the  efficiency  of  the  track 
force,  it  is  advisable  to  have  at  least  two  foremen 
in  embryo,  upon  each  section,  distinguished  by 
authority  and  by  a  small  increase  in  wages  from 
the  other  men  ;  the  higher  in  rank  may  be  called 
assistant  foreman  and  the  other  spiker.  These 
small  allowances  in  their  pay  will  be  well  returned 
to  any  company,  if  the  track-master  has  selected 
the  promoted  men  with  judgment.  It  has  been 
found  useful,  as  a  means  of  discipline  and  of 
instruction,  to  require  frequent  written  reports 
from  the  section  foremen  ;  they  should  not  be  too 
long  nor  relating  to  unimportant  matters  ;  but 
they  may  embrace  all  the  statistics  which  would 
be  useful,  and  convey  lucid  information  as  to  any 
notable  events  which  occur  on  the  section. 
Printed  forms  containing  questions  to  be  answered 
assist  in  giving  an  idea  of  the  information  wanted. 
It  is  common  enough  to  find  a  severe  economy 
as  to  the  number  of  men  employed,  upon  roads 
where  very  little  attention  is  given  to  economizing 
their  time,  by  providing  them,  for  instance,  with 


50  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

hand  cars  which  run  easily  and  with  cold  chisels 
which  will  stand  to  cut  a  rail,  or  claw-bars  which 
will  really  pull  a  spike;  and  on  such  roads  the 
working  trains  will  generally  be  equipped  with  the 
least  useful  engines,  which  will  get  stalled  in  the 
pit  or  even  on  the  main  track,  resulting  in  the  loss 
of  hours  of  the  time  of  the  men.  A  little  reflec- 
tion, or  a  brief  calculation,  should  convince  any 
railroad  officer  that  such  neglect  involves  the  most 
useless  waste.  Better  to  pay  the  highest  price  for 
the  hire  of  a  serviceable  locomotive,  rather  than 
to  use  an  incompetent  one  for  a  working  train. 
On  roads  where  this  train  is  required  to  serve  at 
distant  places,  boarding  cars  with  arrangements 
for  lodging  the  men  will  prove  very  economical  of 
their  time,  and  will  more  than  repay  the  cost  of 
fitting  up.  The  force  may  then  be  laid  off  at  any 
siding,  at  night,  without  unnecessary  running  to 
headquarters. 

It  is  not  everywhere  made  one  of  the  special 
duties  of  the  trackmen  to  clear  the  road  of  snow 
in  the  winter,  depending  upon  the  snow-plows  run 
by  the  locomotives  to  accomplish  this  ;  yet  a  force 
on  foot,  armed  with  shovels,  can  often  anticipate 
the  plow,  or  lend  great  effect  to  its  finishing  work 
by  roughly  trenching  the  drifted  cuttings.  In 
fact,  the  quickest  mode  of  opening  a  badly-drifted 
road  is  by  shovelers  rather  than  by  locomotives. 
It  is  an  excellent  plan,  on  such  a  road,  to  author- 
ize each  section  foreman  to  hire  as  many  men  as 


SHOVELING  SNOW.  51 

he  can  after  a  violent  storm,  to  help  in  clearing 
the  track.  The  whole  neighborhood  will  generally 
assist  with  great  cheerfulness,  and  the  drifts  will 
have  disappeared  in  no  time,  if  the  wind  has  gone 
down.  Immense  service  in  clearing  away  the  snow 
cheaply  may  be  rendered,  on  tracks  not  too 
busily  occupied  by  traffic,  by  snow-plows  of  rough 
planks,  such  as  are  used  for  common  roads,  drawn 
by  oxen.  Such  means  are  not  to  be  despised, 
even  on  great  main  lines,  where  several  locomo- 
tives frequently  fail  to  drive  through  the  most 
magnificent  regulation  plow  on  wheels.  The 
principle  of  overcoming  the  enemy  in  detail,  or  in 
small  detachments,  is'well  illustrated  in  the  suc- 
cessful "  fighting  of  snow-drifts." 

Whenever  a  siding  is  to  be  laid,  leading  out  of 
a  main  track  over  which  the  trains  run  rapidly,  a 
new  source  of  danger  is  introduced  into  the  oper- 
ations of  the  road,  and  it  should  be  a  matter  of 
grave  reflection  how  to  construct  it  in  the  manner 
which  will  involve  the  fewest  chances  of  accident. 
The  most  convenient  or  the  least  expensive  posi- 
tion for  the  switches  may  be  where  they  will  be 
the  most  concealed  from  the  view  of  approaching 
trains ;  and  it  would  be  better,  in  the  long  run,  to 
spend  a  larger  sum  for  the  sake  of  having  them 
visible  from  afar,  or  to  protect  them  by  interlocked 
danger  signals,  at  a  safe  distance. 

In  England,  the  risks  from  "  facing  points," 
that  is,  from  switches  leading  out  of  the  line  from 


52  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

the  direction  in  which  the  train  is  moving,  were 
formerly  regarded  as  so  considerable,  that  on 
many  roads  none  were  permitted  ;  any  train 
taking  the  siding  had  to  run  by  and  back  in ;  and 
although  the  exigencies  of  traffic  have  now  com- 
pelled the  use  of  "  facing  points  "  there,  they  are 
generally  guarded  by  devices  for  locking  them 
which  insure  that  they  are  well  home,  before  a 
train  is  allowed  to  pass. 

In  the  United  States,  the  enormous  number  of 
accidents  occurring  at  switches  and  frogs  goes  to 
prove  that  a  distrust  of  them  is  warranted  and 
that  we  can  not  guard  them  too  carefully. 

There  are  a  few  suggestions  which  maybe  borne 
in  mind,  when  a  siding  is  to  be  located.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  place  it  on  the  outside  of  a  curve  than  on 
the  inside;  for,  when  occupied  by  a  train,  the 
view  of  the  line  from  the  main  tracks  will  not 
then  be  obscured.  The  cross-overs  from  one  main 
track  to  the  other  may  almost  always  be  arranged 
so  as  to  avoid  facing  points ;  even  if  safety 
switches  are  used,  it  is  safer  to  run  from  than 
against  the  points  of  the  frogs.  It  is  prudent  to 
place  switches  as  far  from  bridges  or  deep  ravines 
as  the  circumstances  will  admit,  so  that  if  any 
thing  about  them  were  to  fail,  the  locomotive  may 
not  certainly  plunge  into  a  gulf.  When  sidings 
are  upon  a  grade  inclined  toward  the  main  track, 
they  should  open  into  a  safety-end  by  a  switch 
which  should  be  kept  set  for  the  safety-end,  ex- 


LOG  A  TIXG  SIDINGS.  $3 

cept  when  communication  with  the  main  track  is 
desired  ;  so  that  if  cars  are  moved  down  the 
grade  by  wind  or  by  gravity,  they  will  not  foul 
the  main  line.  If  the  switch  which  leads  into  the 
safety-end  is  interlocked  with  that  in  the  main 
track,  so  that  it  shall  always  move  with  it,  it  will 
avoid  mistakes  on  the  part  of  trainmen.  This  is 
a  much  safer  arrangement  than  beams  of  wood  or 
iron  fastened  across  the  siding,  although  even  that 
device  is  better  than  to  make  no  provision  against 
one  of  the  common  causes  of  accident.  It  is 
often  convenient,  upon  a  road  with  double  track, 
to  place  a  siding  for  meeting  and  passing  trains 
between  the  main  tracks  and  communicating  with 
both  of  them.  In  such  a  case  it  is  best  to  make 
it  long  enough  to  accommodate  two  ordinary 
trains  or,  better,  two  of  the  longest  trains,  for 
they  will  be  quite  sure  to  reach  it  together.  In 
general,  however,  sidings  are  more  convenient, 
even  for  meeting  points,  if  at  the  side  of  the  main 
tracks ;  if  not  too  far  from  the  one  to  the  next, 
having  in  view  the  volume  of  traffic  upon  the 
road,  they  may  be  laid  out  alternately  on  one 
side  and  the  other  of  a  road  with  double  main 
track,  avoiding  to  a  great  extent  the  use  of  the 
cross-overs  ;  for  a  train  may  wait  a  short  time  to 
be  passed  at  a  siding  which  leads  out  of  its  own 
track,  rather  than  run  further  and  be  delayed  by 
crossing  over  the  other  main  track  and  back 
again.  It  is  in  favor  of  outside  sidings,  that 


54  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

others  can  be  led  out  from  them  without  adding 
to  the  number  of  switches  in  the  main  track. 
Sidings  upon  the  passenger  side  of  the  tracks 
should  stop  short  of  the  passenger  station,  say 
200  feet,  if  possible,  never  passing  before  it,  if 
avoidable.  Although  6  feet  has  been  the  standard 
width  between  the  adjacent  rails  of  contiguous 
tracks,  a  greater  width  is  very  desirable  on  many 
accounts.  The  latest  instance  of  a  double  track 
road  has  8  feet  between  the  main  tracks.  Unless 
parallel  sidings  are  to  be  used  for  transferring 
freight  from  car  to  car,  a  greater  width  than  6 
feet  should  be  taken,  if  possible.  It  is  generally 
desirable  to  have  a  bunting  post,  or  some  other 
kind  of  a  stopper  at  the  ends  of  stub  tracks,  al- 
though where  they  are  not  too  long  for  the  en- 
gineer -  and  trainmen  to  communicate  easily 
together,  as  in  passenger  yards,  the  absence  of 
any  stopper  is  an  effectual  restraint  upon  careless 
shunting.  The  very  best  stop,  where  there  is 
room,  is  a  bank  of  gravel  or  cinders,  about  two 
feet  deep,  across  the  track  ;  and  it  may  be  given 
a  neat  appearance  by  walling  it  in  on  the  sides 
and  rear.  Iron  brackets  gripping  the  rails  are 
neatest,  however,  and  occupy  least  room. 

It  is  impossible  to  touch  upon  frogs  and  switches 
without  also  touching  inventors ;  yet  there  are 
general  principles  to  which  they  must  conform  to 
reach  the  best  results.  For  instance,  as  to  frogs  : 
no  doubt  the  best  are  made  from  steel  rails  ;  no 


FROGS  AND  SWITCHES.  55 

doubt  the  best  mode  of  fastening  them  together 
is  by  clamps  and  keys,  so  far  as  possible,  instead 
of  by  bolts ;  no  doubt  that  the  rails  should,  be 
worked  in  the  planer  instead  of  in  the  fire,  at  least 
in  the  present  state  of  the  art ;  no  doubt  that  a 
frog  for  the  main  track  should  have  a  spring  rail 
on  the  outside,  to  avoid  the  jar  which  is  otherwise 
caused  in  passing  over  it  at  high  speed.  In  yards, 
where  the  trains  take  first  one  track  and  then 
another,  and  at  low  speed,  the  movable  wing  rails 
may  not  be  worth  their  extra  cost.  Opinions  vary 
as  to  the  most  desirable  angles  to  be  used ;  it  is 
common  to  use  a  less  angle  (a  higher  manufacturer's 
number)  in  turning  out  of  the  main  line  than  is 
used  in  the  yards.  In  frogs,  as  in  almost  all  things 
used  on  a  railroad,  it  is  best  to  have  a  few  fixed 
standards  ;  the  supply  to  be  carried  for  repairs 
will  be  thereby  much  reduced.  The  safe  use  of  a 
frog  requires  a  guard  rail,  which  should  be  strongly 
braced  opposite  the  frog  point,  not  relying  upon 
spikes  to  hold  it  in  place,  as  is  often  done.  New 
roads  will  find  it  convenient  and  economical  to 
have  them  furnished  with  the  frogs,  as  they 
require  to  have  a  part  of  the  flange  cut  away,  and 
this  is  better  done  by  the  planer  than  by  the  cold 
chisel. 

The  standard  switch  of  the  world  is  some  variety 
of  the  split  switch;  for  places  where  it  is  to  be 
constantly  used,  no  doubt  the  most  convenient  of 
any  possible  form. 


56  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

It  is  light,  easily  adjusted  and  taken  care  of, 
and  admits  of  operating  by  an  interlocking  ap- 
paratus more  readily  than  any  other.  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  fearful  danger,  if  out  of  order.  If  not 
fitted  with  springs  to  admit  of  running  through 
it  when  mis-set,  without  breaking  the  tie-rods,  it 
is  likely  to  be  so  run  through,  and  to  wreck  the 
next  train  which  passes  over  it ;  if  it  is  fitted  with 
springs,  a  little  thing  may  prevent  the  point  from 
closing,  which  will  as  surely  cause  an  accident. 
Our  annals  are  full  of  disasters  from  these  causes. 
The  only  safe  way  is  to  know,  by  one  means  or 
another,  that  the  switch  is  certainly  all  right  before 
each  train  passes.  When  interlocking  signals  are 
used,  the  arrangements  usually  provide  for  locking 
the  point  securely  in  its  place  before  the  danger 
signal  can  be  lowered. 

Admitting  the  advantages  of  the  split  switch, 
where  it  is  in  constant  use  and  can  be  watched 
over  and  attended,  no  switch  at  all  is  the  best, 
where  it  can  not  be  so  thoroughly  looked  after ; 
and  the  nearest  approach  to  this  is  the  Wharton 
safety  switch.  It  is  not  agreeable  to  call  names, 
but  there  is  nothing  with  any  other  name  to  class 
with  this.  It  is  not  a  switch  except  when  it  is 
required  for  use,  for  it  forms  no  part  of  and  does 
not  interrupt  the  main  track  ;  it  lies  inert  at  the 
side  of  the  track,  untouched  by  the  wheels  except 
when  needed  to  cross  them  into  the  siding  ;  con- 
sequently it  suffers  little  from  wear  and  tear ;  it 


BUY  FROGS.  57 

does  not  admit  of  rapid  shunting,  but  should  be 
passed  over  rather  slowly.  For  use  in  the  main 
tracks  at  country  stations  and  sidings,  which  are 
entered  by  only  a  small  portion  of  the  traffic,  it  is 
the  safest  and  most  suitable  switch  yet  offered. 

There  was  a  time  when  frogs,  switches  and 
signals  were  better  made  by  each  railway  com- 
pany for  itself  than  any  which  it  could  buy;  but 
this  is  so  no  longer.  The  manufactories  devoted 
to  the  construction  and  perfection  of  these  devices 
have  now  sufficient  patronage  to  enable  them  to 
employ  special  tools,  which  will  do  the  work  better 
and  cheaper  than  can  be  done  in  ordinary  shops. 
It  is  therefore  unwise  for  companies,  whose  shops 
are  too  small  for  their  locomotive  and  car  repairs, 
to  encumber  them  with  the  manufacture  of  frogs 
and  switches. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

STATIONS. 

ROOMY  SITES — LOCATION — OFFICES    AND    WAITING-ROOMS — 
WATER-CLOSETS,  ETC. — FREIGHT  HOUSES — WATER-WORKS. 

It  is  plain,  upon  the  slightest  consideration, 
that  there  are  many  circumstances  which  may 
affect  and  even  control  the  site  chosen  and  the 
arrangements  adopted  for  any  station  ;  yet  there 
are  certain  general  principles  which  may  be  stated, 
according  to  which  one  would  wish  to  build  it  if 
he  could. 

Upon  a  new  road  in  a  new  country,  the  choice 
of  a  site  will  not  be  difficult,  although  there,  as 
everywhere,  an  ample  space  of  land,  nearly  at 
grade,  is  the  first  desideratum  ;  to  this,  many 
other  good  reasons  for  another  location  ought  to 
yield.  For  instance,  a  limited  area,  somewhat  too 
small  for  present,  or  at  any  rate  for  future  needs, 
may  be  available  nearer  the  business  center  of  the 
town  ;  and  persons  interested  in  that  property 
may  be  very  anxious  to  have  the  station  estab- 


STATION  SITES.  59 

lished  in  its  neighborhood  ;  yet  it  is  certain  that 
the  interests  of  the  railway  and  of  the  town,  so 
far  as  its  future  is  concerned,  will  be  promoted  by 
the  selection  of  the  larger  ground  ;  for  it  is  im- 
portant to  all  parties  that  the  station  shall  be 
large  enough  to  allow  all  necessary  facilities  to  be 
constructed  upon  a  liberal  scale. 

However  grand  our  anticipations  may  be 
respecting  the  future  of  any  town,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  they  will  be  short  of  what  may  be 
realized  in  the  course  of  twenty  or  fifty  years ;  so 
that  no  harm  will  result  to  the  company  if  a  large 
margin  of  room  is  secured  for  expansion.  Gen- 
erally, such  land  can  be  bought,  before  the  site  of 
a  station  has  been  fixed  upon,  at  the  price  of 
farming  lands ;  and  often,  soon  afterward,  the 
prices  for  any  additions  to  the  station  grounds 
are  at  the  rate  for  town  lots.  It  not  seldom  hap- 
pens that  the  establishing  in  a  town  of  one  enter- 
prising manufacturing  company  creates  more 
business  for  the  railway  than  its  station  grounds 
can  accommodate,  which  is  not  a  flattering 
commentary  upon  the  foresight  of  its  con- 
structors. 

The  consideration  of  proximity  to  the  business 
should  have  some  force,  yet  not  too  much ;  for 
when  the  freight  or  the  passengers  are  once 
mounted  on  wheels,  a  small  additional  distance  to 
be  traversed  is  of  little  moment. 

It  is  very  desirable,    when  it  can  be  done,  to 


60  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

place  the  passenger  buildings  all  on  one  side  of 
the  line,  throughout  its  length ;  it  makes  it 
simpler  for  the  passengers  who  are  unfamiliar  with 
the  road  to  debark,  in  the  night  especially  ;  and 
it  allows  of  greater  uniformity  in  the  signaling 
arrangements.  There  are  sometimes  reasons  for 
a  departure  from  the  general  rule,  but  they  should 
be  important  ones,  such  as  the  greater  part  of  a 
city  being  on  the  other  side  of  the  track,  although 
if  the  drive  between  the  city  and  the  station  can 
be  easily  carried  over  or  under  the  tracks,  that 
ceases  to  be  a  good  reason. 

It  is  preferable  to  have  the  passenger  station 
on  the  south  or  west  side  of  the  tracks,  so  that 
the  offices  which  face  the  tracks  will  have  an 
eastern  or  northern  exposure ;  for  this  will  make 
the  occupants  of  them  more  comfortable  than  if 
placed  so  as  to  receive  the  direct  rays  of  the  west- 
ern sun.  It  is  a  species  of  cruelty  to  require  tele- 
graph clerks  or  others  to  write  all  day  in  the  glare 
of  the  sunlight ;  the  temperature  of  the  rooms  in 
summer  is  pleasanter,  too,  when  facing  north  or 
east. 

The  size  of  the  offices  is  the  first  thing  to  be 
taken  into  account ;  a  mere  cupboa'rd  is  not  a  fit 
place  to  transact  any  business  in,  still  less  is  it  a 
suitable  place  in  which  to  compel  a  person  to  pass 
the  greater  portion  of  the  working  hours.  For 
one  person  a  space  of  12  by  12  ft.  is  the  least  that 
should  be  allowed  ;  two  persons  can  get  along 


WAITING-ROOMS.  61 

with  less  than  twice  this  room  ;  but  when  desks, 
chairs,  ticket  cases  and  so  forth  are  allowed  for, 
not  with  much  less.  It  is  better  to  allow  for  an 
increase  of  force  at  large  places,  rather  than  to 
have  to  alter  and  enlarge  after ;  and  it  is  of  more 
importance  to  give  room  enough  to  the  em- 
ployes than  to  the  public,  for  the  first  must 
occupy  their  offices  for  longer  periods  than  the 
passengers  do  the  waiting-rooms. 

But  the  waiting-rooms  should  not  be  scrimped 
in  size  nor  in  comfort ;  at  large  stations,  such  as 
important  junctions,  passengers  find  it  convenient 
often  to  remain  at  the  station  between  trains,  par- 
ticularly ladies  and  children  ;  the  more  attractive 
and  convenient  the  rooms  are,  the  oftener  they 
will  go  over  the  road.  A  fire-place  in  each  wait- 
ing-room adds  not  only  to  the  cheerful  appearance 
of  the  room,  especially  in  spring  or  autumn,  when 
a  little  fire  only  is  needed,  but  it  insures  ventila- 
tion in  the  easiest  way,  which  is  a  valuable  result, 
for  all  public  rooms  should  have  ventilation  to  be 
comfortable,  although  we  have  become  accus- 
tomed from  long  habit  to  tolerate  bad  air.  A 
few  chairs,  of  a  strong  pattern,  which  can  be 
moved  about,  should  always  be  provided  in  the 
ladies'  room  for  the  use  of  mothers  with  infants, 
or  for  persons  who  would  like  to  sit  in  a  group ; 
it  is  not  possible  for  more  than  three  persons  to 
talk  together  upon  a  bench,  and  an  infant  can 
not  be  suitably  dandled  or  nursed  upon  one. 


62  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

These  are  trivial  matters,  but  they  concern  the 
rights  and  comforts  of  travelers. 

So  does  the  matter  of  lighting  the  rooms.  No- 
where are  the  waiting-rooms  so  well  lighted,  in 
the  day  time,  as  in  the  United  States ;  in  part 
because  we  have  the  most  cheerful  sun,  and  in 
part  because  we  have  taken  care  to  avail  of  it ; 
but  generally  it  is  impossible  to  read  at  all  in  them 
after  dark  ;  not  often  because  there  are  not  lights 
enough,  but  that  they  are  placed  too  high. 

It  is  often  difficult  for  the  passenger  to  see  his 
money  or  ticket,  while  he  is  buying  it  at  the 
window,  with  sufficient  distinctness  to  enable  him 
to  correct  a  mistake,  if  one  were  made. 

There  should  be  ample  shelves  outside  of  the 
ticket  offices  and  telegraph  offices  near  the 
windows,  upon  which  the  travelers  may  open  out 
their  wallets  or  write  their  dispatches.  The  tele- 
graph office  should  have  a  projection  on  the  track 
side,  with  windows  commanding  a  view  up  and 
down  the  line;  the  hexagonal  form  is  not  so  good 
as  the  rectangular,  for  the  vision  is  more  distinct 
through  a  pane  which  is  parallel  to  the  eyes  than 
through  one  which  is  oblique. 

There  is  more  reason  to  fear  that  passenger 
buildings  will  be  placed  too  near  the  track  than 
too  far  away  ;  there  is  too  little  room  between  the 
station  door  and  the  track,  at  almost  every  one  in 
this  country.  This  limited  space  is  uncomfort- 
able upon  almost  all  occasions ;  and  when  there  is 


WATER-CLOSETS.  63 

a  crowd,  as  upon  excursions  or  festivals,  it  be- 
comes really  dangerous.  Not  less  than  24  ft.  in 
width  of  platform,  in  front  of  the  building,  should 
be  allowed  at  country  stations,  and  more  in  pro- 
portion should  be  given  as  the  population  of  the 
place  is  larger.  J 

If  drainage  can  be  had,  or  if  it  is  not  necessary, 
the  station  should  be  provided  with  a  cellar,  to 
contain  fuel  and  a  furnace  or  steam  apparatus  for 
heating  the  entire  building.  There  is  no  other 
convenient  or  so  neat  mode  of  storing  the  fuel  ; 
the  risk  of  conflagration  and  the  nuisance  of  dirt 
are  both  lessened  by  having  only  one  fire  to  attend 
to,  and  that  out  of  sight. 

The  matter  of  drainage  will  settle  the  question 
of  water-closets  also  ;  if  that  can  be  secured,  they 
are  the  most  convenient  of  any  form  of  privy,  for 
water  can  be  pumped  by  hand  into  a  tank  suffi- 
cient to  provide  for  them,  where  other  means  do 
not  exist.  But  water-closets  must  be  kept  warm 
enough  not  to  freeze.  Where  drainage  can  not 
be  had,  the  dry  earth  closet  will  answer  the  pur- 
pose perfectly ;  it  requires  no  skill  nor  unusual 
labor,  only  energy  on  the  part  of  the  agent  to  see 
that  it  is  properly  attended  to.  The  horrible 
vaults  which  have  so  long  disgraced  our  civiliza- 
tion should  not  be  tolerated  by  a  respectable  rail- 
road officer,  even  if  the  improved  sanitary  vigi- 
lance of  the  towns  would  permit  their  use.  There 
has  not  been  any  invention  yet,  however,  which 


64  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

will  secure  neatness  on  the  part  of  the  public 
which  uses  the  privies  ;  they  must  be  watched, 
and  attended  to  when  necessary,  at  once  ;  if  neg- 
lected, the  Augean  stables  were  nothing  in  com- 
parison with  what  they  will  attain  to  ;  yet  that 
does  not  excuse  a  public  corporation,  which  fails 
to  provide  decently  those  conveniences,  which  it 
professes  to  afford  its  patrons. 

The  urinary  vessels  always  give  much  odor 
unless  the  urine  is  discharged  into  cold  water;  if 
the  water,  which  is  generally  discharged  at  the 
bottom  of  the  vessel,  were  allowed  to  fill  it  and 
to  overflow  at  the  top  there  would  be  no  odor. 
Try  this !  In  winter  they  must  not  be  allowed  to 
freeze,  of  course. 

A  cheap  means  of  providing  more  waiting 
room,  at  a  station  likely  to  be  crowded,  is  to  place 
benches  outside,  under  shed  roofs  or  overhanging 
eaves  ;  they  will  be  frequented  in  any  tolerable 
weather  by  smokers  and  by  many  other  persons 
who  prefer  fresh  air.  A  well  with  a  good  pump  in 
it  and  a  cup  attached  is  a  comfort  at  every  station  ; 
or  a  drinking  hydrant  and  even  a  fountain  where 
water  is  abundant  ;  either  is  much  more  attractive 
than  a  water  cooler,  apt  to  be  not  too  well  at- 
tended to.  As  to  the  surroundings,  let  them  be 
neatly  kept,  at  any  rate.  The  addition  of  trees 
and  grass  with  graveled  paths  suggests  itself. 
Flowers  are  beautiful  and  attractive,  but  require 
more  care  and  more  expense,  while  they  are  of 


FREIGHT  HO  USE S.  65 

less  consequence.  The  ash  heap,  so  common  at 
country  stations,  does  not  seem  to  be  needed,  and 
the  ashes  spread  over  muddy  roads  will  serve  some 
good  purpose  if  distributed  not  too  thickly. 

One  side  of  the  track  being  selected  for  the 
passenger  side,  all  extra  tracks,  freight  yards  and 
so  forth  will  fall  naturally  to  the  other  side.  The 
signaling  arrangements  which  have  been  provided 
for  the  single  or  double  main  track  will  not  have 
to  be  disturbed,  whatever  the  changes  the  in- 
crease in  freight  business  or  yard  room  may  occa- 
sion. If  additional  main  tracks  become  necessary, 
as  has  already  occurred  in  the  life  of  many  other 
railroads,  it  will  be  a  simpler  problem  to  arrange 
for  them,  if  carried  along  on  one  side  of  the  ex- 
isting tracks,  than  if  on  both ;  and  it  will  not  be 
necessary  in  any  case  to  move  the  passenger 
buildings.  On  roads  already  built,  where  a  similar 
scheme  has  not  been  borne  in  mind  during  con- 
struction, opportunities  occur  to  carry  it  out  grad- 
ually, if  decided  upon.  New  buildings  are  fre- 
quently required  and  alterations  are  made  in  old 
ones,  which  can  be  brought  into  conformity  with 
a  general  plan,  if  it  exists.  Much  foresight  and 
judgment  are  required  in  any  scheme  to  avoid 
future  changes,  but  this  admits  of  keeping  quite 
free  of  them  on  one  side  of  the  line.  On  general 
principles,  it  is  advisable  to  place  water  tanks,  and 
such  other  structures  as  will  admit  of  it,  at  the 
outer  limits  of  the  premises.  The  most  desirable 


66  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

location  for  the  freight  house  is  on  the  other  side 
of  the  tracks  from  the  passenger  station,  not  quite 
opposite,  for  that  interferes  with  the  view  from 
the  windows  of  the  station,  and  gives  a  confined 
air  to  the  arrangements  generally ;  not  too  far 
away,  for  it  is  well  to  have  it  so  near  that  one 
agent  and  one  telegraph  office  can  conveniently 
serve  both  the  freight  and  the  passenger  station, 
at  all  but  quite  large  towns. 

The  freight  house  should  be  put,  at  first,  where 
it  is  expected  permanently  to  remain,  leaving 
space  enough  between  it  and  the  main  track  to 
admit  of  laying  all  the  parallel  tracks  which  can 
ever  be  wanted  in  the  future.  This  will  cost  a 
little  more  to  begin  with,  but  will  avoid  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  moving  the  building  at  a 
future  time,  as  also  the  suspension  of  business 
involved  in  such  moving  ;  and  as  the  track-scales, 
stock-yards,  platforms,  cranes  and  other  conven- 
iences are  constructed  along  the  track  which  accom- 
modates the  freight-house,  to  place  this  in  its  per- 
manent place  is  to  save  future  alterations  in  the 
position  of  these.  Some  managers  are  quite 
unwilling  to  incur  the  expense  of  track-scales  and 
cranes  or  derricks  at  stations,  even  of  considerable 
importance,  but  experience  has  shown  that  they 
are  a  profitable  investment. 

Freight  houses  are  almost  always  too  small ; 
built  too  small  in  the  first  place,  they  are  reluct- 
antly increased  in  size  ;  business  suffers  in  con- 


WA  TER  STA  TIONS.  67 

sequence  ;  cars  have  to  serve  as  warehouses  and 
are  detained  when  in  very  great  demand,  because 
there  is  no  place  in  the  freight  house  for  their 
contents. 

Water  stations,  to  be  good,  or  at  all  satisfac- 
tory, must  be  expensive ;  the  effort  to  build  very 
cheap  ones  has  proved  this  proposition,  so  that  it 
is  scarcely  worth  while  to  try  the  experiment 
again.  A  small  reservoir  with  small  pipes  and 
supplied  by  a  small  pump  cannot  be  relied  upon 
to  yield  a  large  supply.  To  change  these  every 
little  while,  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  the  grow- 
ing demands  of  the  traffic,  involves  the  sacrifice 
of  nearly  the  whole  of  each  successive  plant.  It 
is  better,  therefore,  to  build,  at  first,  a  minimum 
number  of  water  stations  and  to  have  them  first- 
rate  ones,  than  to  construct  a  larger  number  of 
poor  ones.  This  number  having  been  fixed  upon, 
and  the  desirable  site  of  each  station  determined, 
the  sources  of  supply  which  are  available  near 
each  are  to  be  examined.  A  sufficient  quantity 
at  all  seasons  of  the  year  is  the  first  necessity,  and 
the  next  that  it  shall  be  as  free  as  can  be  from 
the  salts  of  lime,  which  form  the  scale  in  boilers. 
Running  streams  are  less  likely  to  be  of  hard 
water  than  springs  or  wells,  at  least  during  the 
rainy  season.  A  convenient  test  of  water  for 
boiler  use  is  to  prepare  a  solution  of  white  soap 
in  rain  water,  or  better  in  distilled  water.  A  few 
spoonfuls  of  this  stirred  into  a  glass  of  the  water 


6  8  ELEMEN  7  'S  OF  &A  1LROA  DING. 

to  be  tested,  will  produce  coagulation  of  the  lime 
and  soap,  according  to  the  quantity  of  salts  in  the 
water:  and  by  treating  a  glass  of  each  kind  of 
water  to  be  compared  with  the  same  measure  of 
soap  solution,  a  very  marked  difference  will  appear 
in  a  short  time,  if  it  exists.  Three  or  four  spoon- 
fuls of  a  solution  of  oxalate  of  ammonia  in  distilled 
water,  poured  into  a  glass  of  water  to  be  tested, 
will  cause  the  salts  of  lime  to  be  precipitated,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  few  hours  all  will  have  settled  on 
the  bottom  of  the  glass ;  by  comparison  of  the 
quantity  so  precipitated  from  any  two  kinds  of 
water,  a  very  accurate  knowledge  can  be  had  of 
their  relative  values  for  steam  boiler  use. 

It  will  doubtless  be  found  that  at  some  of  the 
places  selected  at  first,  sufficiently  pure  water  in 
ample  quantity  can  not  be  found,  and  some  redis- 
tribution of  places  may  be  necessary.  If  a 
storage  reservoir  of  sufficient  size,  not  too  far  off, 
can  be  availed  of  to  supply  the  stand-pipes,  from 
which  water  is  taken  into  the  tender,  by  gravity, 
it  will  be  best  to  use  that  as  the  direct  source  of 
supply  to  the  stand-pipes ;  but  the  head  of  water 
above  the  rails  should  not  be  less  than  25  ft.;  any 
height  above  that,  up  to  300  ft.,  is  all  the  better. 
With  25  ft.  head,  and  a  pipe  of  8  or  10  in.  in 
diameter  between  the  reservoir  and  the  stand- 
pipes,  past  the  station  buildings,  the  flow  into  the 
tender  will  not  be  too  slow,  and  hydrants  near  the 
buildings  will  be  available  for  sprinkling  and  use- 


RESERVOIRS.  69 

ful  in  case  of  fire.  It  is  advisable  to  use  stand- 
pipes  (of  not  less  than  7  in.  opening)  at  first,  upon 
a  new  road,  even  though  it  may  be  intended 
afterward  to  use  the  Ramsbottom  troughs,  or 
"  jerk-water  "  system  for  filling  the  tenders  while 
the  train  is  in  motion  ;  because  the  troughs  can  not 
well  be  maintained  except  upon  thoroughly  settled 
level  planes,  with  the  track  in  perfect  condition. 

If  a  natural  elevation  for  the  reservoir  is  not 
available,  Burnham's  frost-proof  tank,  or  its 
equivalent,  upon  posts  is  the  next  best  means  of 
storing  a  large  quantity  at  a  sufficient  height. 
This  may  be  filled  by  gravity  or  by  pumping 
according  to  circumstances,  remembering  that  one 
may  go  a  long  distance  for  a  gravity  supply  rather 
than  to  have  to  pump  by  steam.  Where  there  is  a 
favorable  exposure  to  the  wind  and  not  too  large 
a  demand  to  be  supplied,  wind-mills  will  pump 
very  cheaply  and  satisfactorily. 

Generally,  it  has  been  expected  of  a  small  wind- 
mill that  it  should  pump  as  much  as  a  more  costly 
steam  engine  ;  whereas,  a  larger  sum  may  be 
afforded  for  the  wind-mill  than  for  the  steam  pump, 
because  it  requires  no  fuel  and  less  attendance : 
wear  and  tear  are  also  less.  Where  a  quantity  of 
more  than  25,000  gallons  per  day  is  needed,  it  is 
better  probably  to  use  a  steam  pump  than  a  wind- 
mill. In  all  cases,  it  is  advisable  to  use  larger 
pipes  than  have  been  generally  employed  for 
pumping  through  :  for  the  demand  upon  them  is 


70  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

almost  sure  to  increase.  A  pump  that  proves  too 
small  can  be  easily  moved  to  another  place  where 
it  will  be  useful,  and  a  substitute  provided  which 
will  be  satisfactory,  without  much  loss  ;  but  it  is 
a  very  expensive  job  to  replace  a  long  line  of 
pipe.  It  is  also  in  favor  of  the  larger  pipe  that  it 
takes  less  coal  to  pump  a  given  quantity  of  water 
through  it  than  through  the  smaller  one. 

Wooden  pipes  bound  with  a  spiral  of  hoop  iron 
and  coated  with  coal  tar  are  least  costly  and  have 
proved  very  satisfactory  and  durable  in  wet  soils. 
In  other  soils,  cast-iron  pipes  coated  outside  and 
inside  with  coal-tar  preparations  are  certainly  as 
good  as  any. 

It  is  important  and  useful  to  have  standard 
patterns  and  uniform  arrangements  in  the  water 
works  of  a  railroad  company  as  in  any  other  de- 
partment, and  an  experienced,  intelligent  superin- 
tendent of  water  works,  who  is  penetrated  by  this 
conviction,  will  be  of  untold  value  to  the  company 
which  he  serves. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
SHOPS  AND   ENGINE   HOUSES. 

LOCATION — BUILDINGS — HEATING — FOUNDRY — INTERIOR  FIT- 
TINGS —  SANITARY  ARRANGEMENTS  —  CRANES  —  ROUND- 
HOUSES— TURN-TABLES. 

The  best  location  for  the  machine  shops  for 
repairs  of  locomotives,  upon  a  road  less  than  two 
hundred  miles  long,  is  at  one  of  the  termini ; 
upon  a  longer  road,  they  should  be  placed  as  near 
the  middle  as  may  be  ;  upon  a  very  long  road  with 
branches,  as  near  the  center  of  traffic  as  may  be ; 
always  supposing  that  a  sufficiently  large  tract  of 
nearly  level  ground  can  there  be  obtained  upon 
which  to  place  them.  It  would  be  wiser  to  pay  a 
large  sum  for  a  suitable  area,  well  situated,  than  to 
accept  another  unsuitable,  or  one  not  well  situat- 
ed, for  nothing.  Generally,  however,  the  erection 
of  shops  is  regarded  as  of  so  much  advantage  to 
any  town  or  neighborhood  that  the  necessary  land 
will  readily  be  given  by  its  citizens  to  secure  them. 


72  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

If  near  to  a  city  of  from  ten  to  fifty  thousand  in- 
habitants, not  in  it,  but  so  near  that  the  workmen 
and  their  families  can  easily  go  to  the  town  "  to 
trade,"  it  will  be  an  advantage.  It  is  a  very  com- 
mon mistake  to  take  too  little  land,  even  by  dona- 
tion, at  first,  and  afterward  to  pay  for  additions 
much  more  than  the  entire  area  finally  acquired 
would  have  cost  in  the  beginning,  because  of  the 
enhanced  value  of  property  due  to  the  shops. 
This  increase  in  the  value  of  adjoining  lands  may 
be  certainly  counted  upon,  and  ought  to  be  availed 
of,  by  any  railway  company  which  pays  for  the 
land  used  for  its  shops,  by  buying  the  adjacent 
ground,  to  be  sold  or  leased  to  employes  and 
others. 

The  area  required  for  the  buildings  and  yards 
about  them  will  vary  in  every  instance  with  the 
particular  road  for  which  they  are  designed  ;  but 
from  an  examination  of  the  grounds  occupied  by- 
similar  establishments  already  erected,  and  observ- 
ing that  they  are  almost  always  in  need  of  more 
room,  a  liberal  mind  may  arrive  at  an  approxima- 
tion to  the  probable  requirements.  It  is  better  to 
err,  in  a  matter  of  so  much  importance,  upon  the 
safe  side,  and  to  be  sure  of  enough. 

It  is  much  more  economical  for  any  road  to  have 
one  grand  machine  shop,  at  which  all  the  principal 
work  of  construction  and  of  heavy  repairs  shall  be 
done,  than  several  smaller  ones.  The  best  and 
cheapest  work  is  done  by  costly  special  machinery, 


LOCATING  SHOPS.  73 

which  ought  to  be  provided  for  any  great  estab- 
lishment, but  can  not  be  afforded  for  several  shops ; 
such  machines  are  generally  capable  of  doing  all 
the  work  that  could  be  required  of  them  for  the 
largest  road,  and  need  not  be  duplicated  if  the 
important  repairs  are  concentrated  at  one  place. 
The  number  of  high-priced  men  to  be  employed 
is  lessened  by  having  the  work  which  requires  the 
best  skill  and  superintendence  all  executed  at  one 
shop ;  and  this  will  also  assist  much  in  securing 
uniformity  and  interchangeability  of  parts  in 
engines  and  cars.  Small  adjuncts  at  engine-houses, 
fitted  with  a  forge,  drill,  lathe  and  small  planer, 
are  necessary,  of  course,  and  are  not  referred  to 
here  in  speaking  of  shops. 

The  shops  for  the  construction  and  repairs  of 
cars  should  be  at  one  of  the  termini,  on  a  short 
road  ;  and  at  both  of  them  and  in  the  middle  upon 
a  longer  road  ;  it  is  convenient  and  economical 
to  associate  one  of  them  with  the  principal 
machine  shops,  if  not  upon  a  very  large  scale :  if 
it  is  to  be  a  great  shop,  it  will  require  a  separate 
outfit  of  tools  and  a  special  staff  of  foremen,  so 
that  there  will  be  no  advantage  in  such  a  connec- 
tion. Usually  only  one  of  the  car  shops  need  be 
upon  a  grand  scale  ;  but  cars  are  less  substantially 
built  than  locomotives  and  are  very  much  more 
numerous ;  there  is  therefore  a  necessity  for  more 
shops  in  which  to  repair  cars  than  for  repairing 
engines. 


74  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

The  cost  of  buildings  of  equal  character  is 
somewhat  in  proportion  to  their  cubic  contents. 
In  disregard  of  this  fact,  many  shops  have  been 
built  with  high  roofs  and  with  trusses  of  wide 
span,  involving  not  only  useless  cost  but  other 
disadvantages  without  corresponding  gain.  Shops 
built  with  walls  high  enough  for  the  uses  which 
they  are  to  serve,  with  low  roofs,  as  flat  as  may 
be,  say  with  a  slope  of  I  in  12,  carried  by  light 
trusses  of  short  span,  supported  by  posts,  are  in 
every  respect  the  best  as  well  as  the  cheapest. 
They  are  more  easily  warmed  and  ventilated ; 
they  can  be  better  lighted  ;  the  shafting  may  be 
more  readily  suspended  ;  the  posts  are  a  positive 
convenience  for  the  attachment  of  cranes,  tool 
racks,  etc.  When  it  is  desirable  to  use  traveling 
cranes,  as  it  is  in  erecting  shops  and  others,  a 
clerestory  can  be  carried  up  on  the  posts  for  their 
accommodation. 

It  is  best  to  make  the  walls  of  brick  and  the 
posts  and  roof  trusses  of  iron  ;  if  the  roofs  are 
covered  with  tarred  felt  and  gravel,  or  something 
equivalent,  and  if  the  planking  of  the  roof  is 
whitewashed  upon  the  inside,  the  buildings  will  be 
almost  fire  proof ;  and  the  roofs  will  be  much 
more  accessible  in  case  of  fire  than  those  with 
high  trusses  are. 

The  low  roofs  are  convenient,  if  built  with  a 
due  amount  of  strength,  for  the  attachment  of  a 
light  hoisting  apparatus  at  any  point  desired; 


SHOP  BUILDINGS.  75 

such  are  required  over  every  engine  pit  and  are 
useful  at  all  tools  where  heavy  parts  are  handled. 
A  skylight  can  be  inserted  at  any  place  where  one 
is  wanted,  to  the  great  saving  of  artificial  light,  in 
the  course  of  a  year ;  and  the  intensity  of  the 
illumination  from  a  skylight  low  down  is  im- 
mensely greater  than  from  one  high  up.  If  walls 
are  of  brick  it  is  best  to  make  them  hollow,  with 
a  2-in.  space  in  them,  well  bonded  ;  which  ex- 
cludes cold  and  damp,  costs  little  or  nothing 
except  oversight  during  construction,  and  saves 
fuel  permanently.  Insert  windows  everywhere 
that  it  is  possible,  high  as  the  walls,  wide  as  the 
panels — in  the  doors  and  over  them,  if  necessary 
to  insure  abundant  light,  always  indispensable  to 
good  or  rapid  work.  Where  brick  and  iron  are 
not  available,  or  would  be  too  costly,  wooden 
buildings,  with  the  same  general  features  which 
have  been  described,  are  recommended. 

All  shops  require  a  firm  floor,  which,  over  such 
large  spaces,  must  rest  upon  the  ground.  Wooden 
floors  perish  rapidly,  requiring  constant  renewal, 
to  the  great  interruption  of  work  and  at  consider- 
able cost.  It  is  better  to  use  some  of  the  many 
forms  of  mineral  pavement,  such  as  asphalt  on 
concrete,  or  blocks  of  asphalt,  which  are  whole- 
some, easily  cleaned,  durable,  and  easily  repaired 
when  injured.  Being  impervious  to  damp,  such 
floors  are  better  than  any  other  kind,  when  laid 
on  the  earth,  regard  being  had  to  the  health  of 


7 6  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

the  workmen,  which  is  likely  to  suffer  from  damp 
or  decaying  wood  ;  and,  with  such  floors,  other 
foundations  are  not  required  for  ordinary  tools;  a 
block  of  wood  or  metal  under  each  foot,  to  give 
a  broader  bearing  upon  the  asphalt,  is  sufficient. 

The  only  proper  mode  of  heating  shops  is  by 
steam-pipes  carried  in  accessible  trenches  lined 
with  masonry  and  covered  by  iron  gratings;  the 
pipes  may,  without  loss,  be  carried  upon  the 
walls ;  the  other  is  the  better  way,  unless  the 
trenches  are  likely  to  be  wet ;  yet  there  is  no  ob- 
jection to  the  use  of  the  trenches  for  draining  off 
clean  water  if  it  does  not  touch  the  pipes,  which 
may  be  supported  above  the  bottom  on  brackets 
or  trestles.  Excellent  radiators  for  steam  heating 
may  be  made  from  old  boiler  tubes  which  are  un- 
fit to  use  in  boilers,  and  are  cheaper,  for  those 
who  have  the  old  tubes  on  hand,  than  any  other 
kind. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  all  shops  for  a 
railroad  company  is  a  good  foundry,  fitted  to 
make  every  casting  that  can  be  required,  from  the 
largest  to  the  smallest.  It  need  not  necessarily 
be  a  very  large  foundry,  but  it  should  not  be  a 
very  small  one,  and  it  should  have  all  the  best 
appliances  of  cupolas,  cranes  and  ovens.  It  will 
generally  be  found  profitable  for  the  foundry  to 
make  castings  enough  to  at  least  consume  the 
scrap  iron  which  is  accumulated  by  the  company ; 
it  can  always  be  run  at  a  profit,  if  reasonably  well 


SHOP  FIXTURES.  77 

managed,  and  it  maintains  a  wholesome  check 
upon  the  foundries  from  which  supplies  are  pur- 
chased ;  yet,  perhaps,  the  greatest  advantage  to 
be  derived  from  it  lies  in  the  quickness  with  which 
important  castings  can  be  furnished  to  the 
several  ^departments  of  the  road  when  a  sudden 
breakage  occurs,  sometimes  saving  great  deiays, 
which  may  be  costly  and  are  proverbially  dan- 
gerous. Indeed,  most  experienced  men  will 
agree  that  a  good  foundry  is  the  greatest  con- 
venience which  can  be  mentioned. 

It  is  not  intended  here  to  enter  into  minute 
details  concerning  the  interior  fittings  of  shops, 
for  they  would  vary  much  according  to  circum- 
stances, but  a  few  things  deserve  mention  which 
have  a  general  application.  It  is  better  to  drive 
the  main  line  of  shafting  directly  from  the  engine 
than  to  use  a  belt  between  tie  engine  and  shaft- 
ing. This  of  course  compels  the  use  of  an 
engine  without  a  driving  pv.lley,  and  there  are 
many  suitable  varieties  of  such  manufactured. 

It  is  preferable  to  suspend  the  shafting,  both 
main  and  counters,  by  iron  hangers,  as  may  be 
done  from  the  roof  trusses,  if  low  as  described, 
rather  than  to  encumber  the  space  with  the 
masses  of  timber  which  have  commonly  been 
used.  This  arrangement  is  safer  against  fire,  does 
not  accumulate  grease  or  dust  and  does  not  ob- 
struct the  light  as  the  timber  does. 

Tracks  of  standard  gauge  should  pass  through 


78  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

or  close  to  all  the  shops  or  departments  of  each 
shop,  to  admit  of  unloading  heavy  machinery  and 
supplies  as  near  to  the  places  where  they  are  to 
be  set  up  or  used  as  may  be.  Tracks  of  the  same 
gauge  or  narrower  should  connect  all  the  large 
and  small  shops,  with  turn-tables  at  all  intersec- 
tions, so  as  to  admit  of  carrying  every  thing  from 
any  one  point  in  the  whole  system  to  any  other 
point,  on  a  larry,  without  unloading.  The  rela- 
tive positions  of  the  several  shops  toward  each 
other  should  be  studied,  with  a  view  to  make  the 
journeys  of  the  things  which  go  from  one  to  the 
other  shop  as  short  as  possible  ;  and  also  to  work 
through  any  shop  from  one  end  toward  the  other, 
where  successive  operations  are  required  on  the 
same  material ;  this  is  especially  important  in 
car  shops,  but  should  be  had  in  view  in  all  shops. 
Grinding  machines,  wood-planing  machines,  and 
such  others  as  create  objectionable  noise  or  dust, 
should  be  apart  from  the  main  shops,  in  separate 
rooms.  Hot  and  cold  water  with  set-basins 
should  be  provided  in  sufficient  numbers  and  con- 
venient for  the  workmen  to  wash  easily  and  rap- 
idly. Good  water-closets,  self-operating,  well 
warmed  in  cold  weather,  and  so  connected  with 
the  shops  that  the  men  need  not  go  into  the  cold 
to  reach  them,  should  be  attached  in  proper  num- 
ber to  each  shop.  They  will  require  an  attendant, 
who  may  also  do  sweeping  and  other  chores. 
Shops  and  wash  rooms  and  water-closets  should 


SHOP  COMFORTS.  1<? 

all  be  well  ventilated,  which  can  be  accomplished, 
with  hardly  any  expense,  by  carrying  up  flues  in 
the  piers  and  walls  with  openings  into  the  rooms 
near  the  floors,  and  occasionally  also  near  the 
roofs.  These  flues  become  frequently  of  great 
convenience,  when  there  is  occasion  to  set  up  a 
stove  or  a  hand  forge,  temporarily,  in  an  unex- 
pected place.  Probably  there  is  nothing  so  im- 
portant and  which  costs  so  little,  which  has  also 
been  so  much  neglected  in  buildings  of  all  kinds, 
as  the  provision  of  flues  for  ventilation.  Large 
shops  should  have  suitable  ventilators  also  in  the 
roofs  ;  but  they  will  not  be  allowed  to  be  open  much 
in  winter.  There  is  a  common  opinion  that  high 
roofs  and  lofty  rooms  are  more  easily  ventilated 
than  low  ones,  which  is  contrary  to  the  facts,  for 
ventilation  is  accomplished  by  establishing  cur- 
rents of  different  temperatures.  This  is  more 
readily  effected  in  a  small  space  than  in  a  greater. 
A  large  passenger  shed  presents  a  good  example 
pf  the  difficulty  of  ventilating  wide  and  high 
spaces,  if  the  persistency  with  which  any  smoke 
from  engines  remains  in  it  is  observed. 

Almost  all  lifting  about  shops  which  requires 
,nore  than  the  strength  of  one  man  should  be 
done  by  cranes  or  hoists,  for  the  interest  on  the 
cost  of  such  will  not  usually  amount  to  another 
man's  wages ;  where  machinery  and  shafting  are 
already  in  motion,  it  requires  generally  no  addi- 
tion to  the  existing  engine  or  boiler  power  to  do 


So  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

all  the  hoisting  that  can  be  needed.  The  most 
convenient  of  all  means  of  reaching  distant 
points,  or  those  which  are  not  easily  accessible  by 
shafting,  is  by  hydraulic  pipes,  which  can  be  car- 
ried anywhere,  if  protected  from  frost.  Hydraulic 
machinery  is  now  made  for  performing  almost 
every  kind  of  work,  and  hydraulic  cranes  are 
among  the  most  convenient  of  all  tools.  When 
a  hoist  is  needed  in  the  vicinity  of  a  boiler,  a 
direct-acting  steam  cylinder  is  often  the  cheapest 
form  to  employ. 

Engine  houses,  with  walls,  roofs  and  floors  of 
the  same  type  as  the  buildings  for  shops  which 
have  been  described,  will  be  very  satisfactory. 
They  will  be  very  much  warmer  and  freer  from 
smoke  than  the  high-roofed  buildings.  The  en- 
gines should  run  into  them  from  the  turn-table 
with  the  smoke-stack  first ;  this  brings  the  forward 
part  of  the  engines  near  the  windows,  and,  in  the 
round-house,  which  is  the  best  and  only  convenient 
form  of  engine  shed,  the  engines  will  thus  be 
where  the  tracks  are  widest  apart  and  where  there 
will  be  the  most  room  for  working  at  any  repairs. 
The  smoke-pipes,  which  should  always  be  imme- 
diately over  the  smoke-stacks  of  the  engines, 
will  then  be  at  the  rear  of  the  building;  and,  on 
account  of  ventilation  and  for  convenience  in 
draining,  it  is  best  to  make  this  the  higher  part  of 
the  roof,  with  the  inclination  toward  the  doors. 
As  the  arc  of  the  circle  at  the  front  of  a  round-house 


ROUND-HOUSES.  81 

is  very  much  shorter  than  the  arc  which  bounds 
it  at  the  rear,  it  will  require  much  less  in  length 
of  eave  troughs  to  provide  suitably  for  the  dis- 
charge of  the  water  in  front  than  at  the  rear. 
Every  thing  which  is  of  iron  which  comes  in  con- 
tact with  the  smoke  from  coal-burning  engines,  if 
not  kept  thoroughly  protected  by  paint,  will  be 
rapidly  consumed  by  oxidation ;  therefore,  iron 
smoke-pipes  upon  engine  houses  are  quickly 
destroyed.  Suitable  pipes  of  terra-cotta  may 
now  be  obtained  and  should  be  preferred. 
A  pit  is  required  under  the  engine  at  each 
stall  of  a  properly  constructed  engine-house, 
for  convenience  in  repairs  and  cleaning. 
The  bottoms  of  these  have  been  usually  built 
concave,  as  the  pits  also  serve  to  discharge  the 
. water  into  when  the  boilers  are  cleaned  or  blown 
out ;  consequently  the  wiper  has  generally  stood 
in  a  pool,  more  or  less  deep,  of  water.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  make  the  bottoms  convex,  with  narrow 
channels  at  each  side,  so  that  the  wiper  may  go 
dry  shod.  These  pits  should  discharge  into  a 
drain  carried  along  their  ends  nearest  the  turn- 
table, where  it  will  be  the  shortest.  This  drain 
should  receive  the  water  from  the  roof,  and  if  its 
walls  are  carried  up  to  the  level  of  the  floor,  and 
it  is  covered  over  suitably,  as  with  an  iron  grating, 
it  is  the  most  convenient  mode  of  providing  an 
accessible  trench  or  culvert  in  which  to  carry 
the  main  water  and  steam  pipes,  from  which  to 


82  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

lead  other  pipes  into  the  engine  pits,  supplying 
water  to  the  tenders  and  for  washing  out  or  filling 
boilers,  and  steam  for  the  heating  of  the  engine 
house.  When  the  radiators  are  arranged  along 
the  sides  of  the  engine  pits,  the  rising  heat  is 
brought  to  bear  most  effectually  in  the  winter 
upon  the  icy-coated  parts  of  the  machinery, 
enabling  the  wipers  to  get  to  work  effectively 
upon  a  newly  arrived  engine  in  the  shortest 
space  of  time ;  and  by  having  the  whole  system 
of  pipes  arranged  in  this  way,  over  drains,  the 
small  leaks  which  are  apt  to  occur  at  joints  and 
valves  do  no  harm  nor  do  they  keep  the  floor 
wet,  as  when  they  are  carried  above  it.  Catch- 
basins  and  settling  basins,  easily  reached  for  fre- 
quent cleaning,  should  be  arranged  where  the 
pits  discharge  into  the  trench  which  carries  the 
pipes,  and  again  where  this  trench  discharges  into 
any  sewer,  for  there  is  nothing  so  likely  to  become 
choked  by  waste,  rags,  and  all  other  substances 
which  can  interrupt  a  drain,  as  the  sewer  from  an 
engine  house.  The  whole  system  of  pipes,  for 
steam,  for  water,  for  drainage  and  for  gas,  at  en- 
gine houses  and  shops,  is  likely  to  be  tapped  con- 
tinually at  new  points,  to  provide  for  new  con- 
veniences ;  it  is  therefore  unwise  to  put  the  pipes 
under  floors,  or  in  any  place  where  they  will  not 
be  easily  accessible. 

The  doors  of  engine  houses  should  be  provided 
with  glazed  sashes,  to  light  the  buildings  in  winter 


TURN-TABLES.  83 

when  they  are  closed.  Cast-iron  sashes  have  been 
found  to  bear  the  rough  usage  from  which  such 
large  doors  frequently  suffer  better  than  any 
others  ;  they  assist  in  stiffening  the  frames  of  the 
doors.  Cast-iron  hinges,  made  like  strap  hinges, 
and  so  proportioned  that  they  will  not  be  too 
strong  near  the  edges  of  the  doors,  but  will  break 
off  when  an  engine  runs  out  of  the  house  before 
the  doors  are  opened,  are  better  on  this  account 
than  wrought-iron  ones  ;  for  these  will  assist  the 
engine  to  tear  down  the  front  of  the  house  ;  the 
cast-iron  ones  will  allow  the  door  to  be  carried 
away  without  further  injury,  if  properly  made. 

The  form  and  size  of  the  ground,  on  which  the 
round-house  must  be  placed,  frequently  limits  the 
distance  at  which  it  may  stand  from  the  turn-table  ; 
it  is  preferable  to  have  space  enough  between  the 
front  of  the  house  and  the  edge  of  the  turn-table 
for  the  longest  engine  to  stand ;  it  is  in  favor  of 
as  much  distance  here  as  may  be,  that  the  longer 
the  radius  which  describes  the  front  wall,  the 
shorter,  for  a  house  of  equal  depth,  will  the  rear 
wall  be.  The  depth  of  an  engine  house,  to  be 
comfortable  in  use,  should  be  at  least  10  ft.  greater 
than  the  length  of  the  longest  engine  likely  to 
enter  it.  The  locomotives  have  grown  in  length, 
slowly  but  constantly,  from  the  beginning  until 
now ;  it  may  be  presumed  they  will  continue  to 
do  so ;  on  this  account  the  depth  of  the  round- 
houses should  be  made  rather  too  great  for  present 


84  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

needs,  and  the  same  reasons  apply  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  turn-tables,  which  should  be  of 
sufficient  diameter  to  accommodate  engines  some- 
what longer  than  are  now  in  use. 

Probably  no  one  would  now  build  a  wooden 
turn-table,  although  it  is  but  a  few  years  since 
they  were  common  enough.  Wrought-iron  tables, 
of  sufficient  strength,  are  doubtless  the  best  of 
any,  if  kept  well  painted  ;  if  they  are  to  be  ne- 
glected, cast-iron  ones  are  better.  Almost  all 
wrought-iron  tables  are  deficient  in  stiffness. 
They  should  be  made  heavier,  and  it  is  better  to 
specify  the  dimensions  of  the  parts  for  a  builder, 
as  for  a  bridge  ;  they  will  rarely  be  satisfactory  if 
bought,  as  many  are,  without  other  specifications 
than  the  length  of  the  girders  and  the  depth  of 
the  pit.  Yet,  however  good  the  turn-table  itself 
may  be,  it  will  not  turn  an  engine  satisfactorily  if 
the  foundations  of  the  center  and  of  the  circular 
track  are  not  perfectly  unyielding;  they  must  be 
of  good  masonry,  extending  below  the  frost  and 
well  drained  ;  the  circular  track  must  lie  perfectly 
level. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


TELEGRAPH   LINES  AND  FENCES. 


POLES,    WIRES,     ETC.— USES    OF    THE     TELEGRAPH— TELE- 
GRAPHERS— FENCES — BARBED  WIRE — POSTS — GATES. 


The  telegraph  has  become  the  indispensable 
ally  of  the  railroad  ;  by  its  aid  the  capacity  of  a 
single  track  is  doubled,  and  that  of  a  double  track 
may  be  very  much  increased  ;  aside  from  its  use 
in  the  movement  of  trains,  it  facilitates  the  rapid 
transaction  of  business  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
has  become  quite  as  important  ah  aid  to  the  com- 
mercial as  to  the  operating  department. 

It  has  been  sometimes  attempted,  even  upon 
roads  of  considerable  traffic,  to  do  the  business  of 
all  departments  upon  a  single  wire,  no  doubt  from 
a  mistaken  idea  of  the  capacity  of  the  wire  rather 
than  from  a  failure  to  appreciate  the  advantages 
of  a  prompt  service.  It  would  be  a  grave  error 
to  allow  any  other  business  to  hinder  the  dis- 


86  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

patching  of  trains,  or  even  to  interrupt  it ;  for  it 
will  not  do  to  confuse  a  telegrapher,  during  the 
transmission  or  receipt  of  train  orders,  by  hurrying 
him  with  other  matters. 

It  is  best  for  a  new  road  to  build  its  own  tele- 
graph line,  and  to  operate  it,  at  first ;  in  the  rapid 
construction  of  a  new  road,  it  would  be  found  of 
great  advantage  to  erect  the  line  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible after  the  location  of  the  road  had  been  finally 
determined  ;  for  the  benefit  derived  from  constant 
and  instantaneous  communication  with  head- 
quarters would  more  than  pay  the  extra  cost  of 
building  it  without  the  aid  of  railroad  transporta- 
tion. If  the  line  were  not  too  long,  it  could  be 
temporarily  equipped  with  telephones  instead  of 
telegraphic  instruments,  which  would  postpone 
the  employment  of  skilled  telegraphers  for  a  while. 
A  distance  of  one  hundred  miles  or  more  can  be 
talked  through  very  satisfactorily  at  the  present 
time ;  and  with  the  improvements  which  are 
announced  every  few  days,  we  may  expect  to  talk 
well  through  a  thousand,  before  long.  The  cost 
of  building  a  telegraph  line  is  not  very  consider- 
able for  a  railway  company,  and  a  better  bargain 
with  any  telegraph  company  for  connections,  for 
interchange  of  business,  or  for  operating  the  line 
jointly  with  the  railway,  can  be  made  after  the 
telegraph  line  is  completed  than  before.  It  should, 
however,  be  a  thoroughly  well  built  line,  upon  the 
best  model  up  to  date.  The  poles  are  larger  and 


TELEGRAPH  POLES.  87 

longer  on  the  best  lines,  the  wires  are  of  greater 
diameter  and  of  better  material  than  they  were  a 
few  years  ago.  This  is  the  result  of  a  long  ex- 
perience with  lines  of  an  inferior  character;  they 
cost  more  to  keep  in  repair  than  good  lines  and 
were  not  to  be  relied  upon.  The  size  of  the  poles  is 
perhaps  the  most  important  feature  of  a  new  line  ; 
for  that  limits  the  number  of  wires  which  can  be 
strung  upon  them,  and,  as  it  is  very  sure  that  they 
will  be  loaded  to  their  full  capacity  within  a  few 
years,  it  is  best  to  set  up  those  of  the  largest  size 
which  are  now  used  in  the  best  practice  of  the 
older  telegraph  companies.  Cedar  poles  are  re- 
garded as  best  of  all ;  white  oak,  chestnut  and 
yellow  pine  are  very  good,  where  more  conven- 
iently obtained.  The  standard  length  of  telegraph 
poles  was  formerly  24  ft. ;  it  was  found  that  after 
the  part  in  the  ground  had  decayed,  that  which 
had  been  above  ground  was  still  good.  This  led 
to  the  adoption  of  30  ft.  as  the  usual  length,  per- 
mitting the  poles  to  be  cut  off  at  the  ground 
when  decayed,  and  to  be  reset.  From  32  to  36 
poles  per  mile  is  the  number  required.  On  some 
roads  the  telegraph  poles  serve  as  mile-posts, 
boards  with  the  proper  figures  upon  them  being 
nailed  to  the  post  which  is  nearest  to  the  mile- 
stake.  By  attention  to  this  in  building  the  tele- 
graph line,  or  by  resetting  the  poles  at  the  mile 
stakes,  the  position  of  these  could  be  cheaply  per- 
petuated and  the  cost  of  mile  posts  avoided.  If, 


88  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

then,  the  intermediate  posts  were  somewhat  care- 
fully spaced,  they  would  be  of  very  great  conven- 
ience as  reference  stakes  for  the  track  department ; 
if  those  at  the  mile  stakes  were  to  be  painted 
white  for  their  whole  length,  and  those  at  the 
half  and  quarter  miles  for  only  a  part  of  their 
length,  they  would  afford  a  scale  of  distances 
which  could  be  read  in  passing  at  the  highest 
speeds,  and  be  of  value  to  the  officers  of  the  road 
in  many  ways. 

The  ordinary  cross-arm  is  calculated  for  six  wires ; 
if  it  is  probable  that  arrangements  will  be  made 
with  a  telegraph  company  for  connections  and  for 
the  use  of  the  railroad's  right  of  way,  it  will  be 
wise  to  put  a  second  cross-arm  on  the  poles 
before  they  are  set,  and  to  have  the  gains  cut  in 
the  poles  for  a  third  cross-arm  ;  for  such  work  can 
be  more  easily  done  before  the  poles  are  set  than 
after. 

But  these  remarks  are  not  applicable  to  an 
obscure  branch  line  in  an  unsettled  country,  where 
possibly  a  single  wire  will  serve  the  railway  and 
telegraph  companies  both,  for  some  years. 

When  possible,  the  poles  should  be  set  more 
than  their  length  from  the  main  track,  so  that  if 
they  should  fall  from  any  cause  they  will  not 
obstruct  it.  If  there  are  more  passenger  stations 
upon  one  side  of  the  line  than  the  other,  it  will 
save  crossings  of  the  tracks,  which  are  objection- 
able, if  the  poles  are  set  upon  the  station  side.  In 


INSULATORS  AND   WIRE.  89 

marshes  it  is  frequently  difficult  to  maintain  a 
telegraph  pole  erect  because  of  the  softness  of  the 
ground.  This  can  generally  be  accomplished  by 
sinking  a  barrel  without  any  head  where  the  pole 
is  to  stand,  then  setting  up  the  pole  inside  the 
barrel  and  filling  between  the  pole  and  barrel  with 
gravel  or  small  stones. 

Insulators  of  many  varieties  have  been  experi- 
mented with,  and  there  are  several  especially  fitted 
for  peculiar  situations  ;  nothing  has  been  found  to 
be  better  for  general  use  than  the  cylinder  of  glass 
screwed  on  to  an  oaken  pin,  a  coarse  thread  being 
molded  in  the  glass  to  correspond  with  a  similar 
one  on  the  pin. 

No.  9  wire  was  formerly  universally  used  for 
telegraphic  purposes,  now  No.  6  has  the  prefer- 
ence for  long  lines  and  No.  4  has  its  advocates  ; 
this  refers  to  iron  wire,  of  which  none  but  the 
very  best  is  fit.  There  are  several  kinds  of  wire 
of  greater  conductivity  invented  and  experimented 
with;  none  established  as  equal  to  iron  for  main 
lines,  as  yet. 

It  is  not  intended  to  treat  of  the  manifold 
applications  of  electricity  to  railway  working ; 
words  would  be  wanting  to  represent  their  value 
and  convenience  ;  space  would  be  lacking  in  which 
to  simply  mention  their  variety ;  there  are  excel- 
lent books  on  train  dispatching,  on  block-signaling 
and  many  other  special  uses  which  should  be 
studied  by  those  who  wish  to  be  informed. 


90  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

Unfortunately,  the  currents  from  a  battery  are 
not  of  sufficient  strength  to  do  much  work ;  they 
can  sound  a  bell  or  move  a  hand  upon  a  dial,  con- 
veying almost  any  information  by  concerted 
signals ;  they  may  be  arranged  to  set  other  more 
powerful  forces  at  work  at  any  distance,  and  in 
this  way  render  very  important  service  in  signal 
ing.  It  should  be  oftener  remembered  that  we 
have  at  hand  this  power  of  notifying  in  advance 
the  approach  of  trains,  whenever  it  can  contribute 
to  safety  or  convenience  to  do  so ;  and  at  a  trifl- 
ing cost,  even  by  means  which  are  automatic,  so 
that  there  is  no  attendant  required.  The  incessant 
whistling  in  great  yards  might  be  totally  dispensed 
with,  and  much  more  certain  information  con- 
veyed by  a  line  of  bell  signals  at  the  switchmen's 
cabins.  Telephones  should  communicate  between 
the  offices  and  the  principal  points  in  all  import- 
ant yards  and  termini ;  indeed,  they  can  scarcely 
be  placed  upon  a  railway  where  they  will  not 
repay  their  cost  by  facilitating  the  transaction  of 
business. 

In  the  construction  of  its  telegraph  line  a 
railroad  company  will  need  the  services  of  ex- 
perienced men,  as  well  as  in  its  use  and  mainten- 
ance afterward.  The  setting  of  the  poles,  the 
stringing  of  the  wires  and  other  particulars  of  the 
work  can  be  accomplished  by  experts  in  a  fraction 
of  the  time  that  persons  without  practice  would 
require.  As  in  all  other  departments  the  first 


TELEGRA  PHERS.  9 1 

requisite  is  an  energetic  superintendent  who 
thoroughly  understands  the  details  of  the  building 
and  testing  of  a  line,  as  well  as  the  art  of  tele- 
graphing. It  will  be  of  great  advantage  if  he 
also  knows  something  of  modern  progress  in 
electrical  science. 

The  telegraph  offices  should  be  well  lighted  by 
night,  which  is  much  neglected,  as  well  as  by  day; 
and  they  should  be  well  ventilated,  because  there 
are  fumes  from  all  varieties  of  moist  batteries, 
which  taint  the  air  in  addition  to  the  ordinary 
causes  of  vitiation  ;  they  should  be  contrived  so 
as  to  excluded  the  public  and  loafers  from  the 
apartments  in  which  are  the  operators  and  the 
messengers.  Upon  railroads,  there  is  a  disposition 
among  all  classes  of  employes  to  make  the  tele- 
graph office  a  sort  of  club-room,  probably  because 
they  can  there  learn  the  latest  news ;  and  on  the 
part  of  the  telegraphers  there  is  a  natural  inclina- 
tion to  relieve  the  tedium  of  their  office  hours  by 
social  chat.  It  is,  however,  due  to  the  accuracy 
and  privacy  of  this  most  important  mode  of 
correspondence  and  of  giving  orders,  that  the 
telegraph  office  shall  be  entered  only  by  the  tele- 
graphers ;  as  little  as  possible  even  by  the  higher 
officials,  who  can  set  a  good  example  by  remaining 
outside,  unless  they  must  enter  upon  business. 

This  is  not  the  proper  place  in  which  to  discuss 
the  unfairness  of  the  statutes  in  regard  to  fencing, 
which,  in  most  of  the  States  of  this  Union,  throw 


92  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

the  burden  entirely  upon  the  railroads  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  common  law,  and  compelling  the 
railroads  to  build  fences,  professedly  to  insure  the 
safety  of  trains,  allow  the  farmer's  cattle  to  per- 
vade the  highways  and  to  frequent  the  railroad 
crossings  by  day  or  night,  without  responsibility 
on  the  part  of  the  owners  for  damages  to  prop- 
erty or  for  the  destruction  of  human  life,  which 
may  result  from  their  neglect  to  keep  their  beasts 
confined.  If  the  railway  companies  were  them- 
selves to  give  attention  to  this  matter,  it  is  scarcely 
doubtful  that  they  might,  in  the  interest  of  safety 
to  trains,  secure  legislation  which  would  prevent 
animals  from  frequenting  the  railroad  crossings  ; 
at  least  an  enactment  such  as  that  which  was 
passed  in  Canada  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Railroad 
Commissioners,  prohibiting  the  loosing  of  cattle, 
at  large,  within  two  miles  of  any  railroad. 

Fences  are  not  a  very  important  item  in  the 
first  cost,  nor  in  the  annual  accounts  of  a  railroad, 
if  originally  well  built  and  afterward  well  main- 
tained ;  but  if  improperly  built  or  if  neglected, 
so  as  to  be  chargeable  with  the  payments  on 
account  of  stock  killed,  they  become  a  formid- 
able source  of  expense. 

At  the  present  time  there  is  no  variety  of  fence 
which  can  compare  in  suitableness  for  a  railroad 
with  that  of  barbed  wire ;  which  is  as  cheap  as 
any  good  fence,  easily  built,  neat  in  appearance, 
not  likely  to  be  set  on  fire,  sure  not  to  spread  fire, 


FENCES.  93 

does  not  harbor  weeds,  occupies  the  minimum  of 
space,  does  not  cause  drifts  of  snow,  and  is  a 
thoroughly  satisfactory  fence  against  all  but  the 
most  unruly  animals  and  sheep.  The  introduc- 
tion of  extra  wires,  tying  all  together  by  vertical 
stay«s  between  the  posts,  would  probably  make  it 
sufficient  to  exclude  sheep  ;  but  their  thick  fleeces 
render  them  insensible  to  the  barbs  which  secure 
the  fence  from  the  assaults  of  other  animals. 
Until  the  farmers  shall  have  used  the  barbed  wire 
fence  for  their  own  fields,  as  they  will  do  more 
and  more,  there  will  be  instances  of  the  mutilation 
of  stock  because  of  the  animals'  unfamiliarity 
with  the  fence  ;  and  where  it  is  new  to  them  it  is 
desirable  that  they  should  have  a  cautious  intro- 
duction to  it ;  if  led  up  and  caused  to  examine 
it  and  to  prick  their  sides  and  noses  a  few  times 
against  it,  they  will  avoid  it  as  carefully  as  a 
burned  child  does  fire. 

The  usual  height  of  a  lawful  fence  is  4  1-2  ft. : 
if  an  animal  jumps  over  such  a  fence  the  law 
considers  it  to  have  violated  propriety  and  will 
hold  the  railway  company  guiltless  if  it  be  killed 
in  consequence;  but  the  owner  of  the  beast  will 
seek  for  a  place  in  the  fence  which  is  less  than  the 
full  height,  and,  if  such  is  found,  will  probably 
recover  damages,  upon  a  verdict  of  his  country- 
men. To  avoid  contentions  of  this  kind,  and 
because  a  high  fence  offers  less  temptation  to  a 
jumping  beast  than  a  low  one,  it  is  recommended 


94  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

to  make  railroad  fences  several  inches  higher  than 
the  legal  standard,  although  this  will  require  five 
wires  instead  of  four ;  these  should  be  fastened 
to  the  sides  of  the  posts  furthest  from  the  tracks. 
The  barbed  wire,  when  properly  strained,  stands 
so  firmly  on  few  posts  that  there  is  a  temptation 
to  use  fewer  of  these  than  experience  will  justify. 
The  wire  manufacturers,  in  order  to  cheapen  the 
cost  of  this  fence  in  comparison  with  other  vari- 
eties, encourage  a  reduction  in  the  number  of 
posts  used  ;  15  ft.  between  posts  is  better  than  a 
longer  distance,  although  many  recommend  and 
use  spaces  of  20  ft.  and  more.  The  life  of  a  fence 
is  in  its  posts  ;  the  more  durable  they  are,  the  less 
the  fence  will  cost  per  year  for  maintenance ;  of 
common  woods,  cedar,  locust,  chestnut,  white  oak, 
are  relatively  valuable,  in  the  order  named,  for 
fence  posts  ;  it  is  preferable  to  have  them  peeled 
before  setting  ;  to  be  permanent  they  must  enter 
the  ground  at  least  3  i-2  ft.  in  this  climate,  be- 
cause of  frost.  There  are  various  ways  in 
which  the  life  of  wooden  fence  posts  may  be 
prolonged,  as  by  charring  the  part  which  enters 
the  ground ;  or  by  coating  it  with  hot  coal  tar, 
if  the  wood  is  seasoned,  or  still  better 
by  burnetizing,  kyanizing,  or,  best  of  all,  creosot- 
ing  them.  These  processes  of  injecting  the  wood 
with  preservative  substances  will  render  almost 
every  wood  suitable  for  fence  posts  and  nearly 
imperishable  ;  and' as  no  wear  and  tear  is  endured 


FENCE  POSTS.  9$ 

by  them  as  there  is  by  sleepers,  the  whole  value 
of  the  preservative  process  may  be  realized  when 
applied  to  fence  posts.  There  are  promising  de- 
vices for  iron  posts  to  hold  barbed  wires ;  it  is 
likely  that,  with  the  cheapening  of  iron  and  with 
some  modifications  in  design  as  experience  will 
suggest,  they  will  become  useful  and  perhaps 
supplant  the  wooden  posts,  where  timber  is  not 
abundant.  When  wooden  posts  are  pointed  at 
the  bottom,  they  are  thrown  up  out  of  the  ground 
by  the  action  of  the  frost,  and  it  is  presumable 
that  the  pointed  cast-iron  footings  which  have  been 
proposed  for  iron  posts,  will  be  acted  upon  in  the 
same  way ;  they  ought,  it  is  concluded,  to  be 
the  largest  at  the  bottom. 

The  wires  of  the  fence  must  be  kept  very 
taut ;  and,  in  order  to  maintain  the  necessary 
strain,  it  must  be  thoroughly  braced  at  all  the 
openings  and  corners ;  the  strains  upon  the  wires 
and  the  diagonal  bracing  have  a  tendency  to 
raise  the  braced  post,  which  should  therefore  be 
anchored  ;  a  cheap  mode  of  doing  this  is  by  spik- 
ing a  piece  of  board  crosswise  on  each  side  of  the 
post,  at  the  bottom. 

One  of  the  cheapest  possible  forms  of  gate  is 
also  the  best  for  use  zkfarm  crossings  ;  it  is  made 
of  four  horizontal  strips  of  fencing  united  by  two 
vertical  strips  at  each  end  and  two  in  the  middle, 
well  nailed  together  with  clinched  nails.  This 
should  run  back  and  forth,  with  the  bottom  of  the 


96  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

top  strip  resting  on  a  pin,  between  two  posts  set 
near  together  at  one  side  of  the  opening  in  the 
fence.  When  half  open,  if  the  posts  are  set  right, 
the  gate  can  be  swung  half  round,  nearly  at  right 
angles  with  the  line  of  the  fence,  leaving  a  clear 
opening  of  the  width  of  the  gate.  In  the  post 
against  which  the  free  end  of  the  gate  shuts, 
there  should  be  a  hook  on  which  to  hang  it 
when  closed  ;  the  hook-headed  track  spike  an- 
swers very  well  for  this  purpose,  but  the  post 
must  be  bored  to  receive  it,  to  avoid  splitting. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


LOCOMOTIVES. 

RUNNERS  SHOULD  BE  ROTATED — LOCOMOTIVES  CONTINUOUSLY 
WORKED — INTERCHANGEABILITY  OF  PARTS — INSPECTION 
DURING  CONSTRUCTION — LOADING  FREIGHT  ENGINES — 
PREMIUMS  TO  ENGINEMEN — FIREING — PAINTING — PAT- 
TERNS, WEIGHT,  ETC. 

Upon  every  railroad  there  is,  or  ought  to  be, 
one  or  more  master  mechanics,  whose  duty  it 
is  to  look  especially  after  the  design,  construc- 
tion and  repairs  of  these  engines  ;  there  are,  be- 
sides, manufacturers  and  inventors  devoted  to 
their  improvement,  and  most  complete  books 
concerning  their  principles  of  action  and  details 
of  construction.  Nothing  will  be  attempted  here, 
therefore,  beyond  some  consideration  respecting 
the  use  of  them  after  they  are  ready  for  the  road, 
and  as  to  the  selection  of  them  when  they  are  to 
be  built  or  purchased. 

During  the  first  half  century  of  railroading, 
the  locomotive  was  regarded  with  some  super- 


98  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

stition,  if  not  with  awe,  by  those  who  ought  to 
have  become  too  familiar  with  it  to  be  its  dupe ; 
it  was  the  fashion  to  marry  it  to  one  man  for 
life,  or  for  so  long  as  the  pair  could  agree  to- 
gether ;  no  one  but  the  familiar  engineer  was 
thought  to  understand  the  caprices  of  the  petted 
machine ;  no  one  else  could  get  her  to  pull  a 
heavy  load  or  a  quick  train  ;  he  only  knew  her 
secret  springs  of  action,  and  when  he  was  tired 
the  locomotive  stopped. 

Scientific  men  wrote  about  the  fatigue  of 
metals,  and  the  unscientific  believed  them  to 
mean  that  continuous  effort  was  bad  for  the  en- 
gine, even  though  it  showed  no  symptoms  of  pros- 
tration. In  consequence  of  these  ideas,  dimly 
entertained,  no  doubt,  or,  like  other  superstitions, 
accepted  without  consideration  from  the  earliest 
habit,  the  locomotive  worked  less  than  half  the 
time,  on  the  average  ;  the  remainder  of  the  day 
it  was  being  polished  and  wiped  and  screwed  up, 
and  decorated  with  fancy  pictures  in  the  cab, 
and  such  other  fanciful  things  as  its  betrothed 
engineer  could  pick  up. 

These  foolish  notions  found  defenders,  for  a 
long  time  after  they  were  seen  by  sensible  men  to 
be  mistaken,  on  the  ground  that  the  sentimental 
regard  of  the  engineer  for  his  own  engine,  would 
retain  it  in  more  perfect  condition  than  could  be 
attained  in  any  other  way. 

The  locomotive  is  a  machine  of  iron  and  brass, 


ROTATE  LO  CO  MO  TI VE  R  UNNERS.  99 

without  sensibilities,  and  may  be  run  day  and 
night  perpetually  (except  for  a  little  wiping)  until 
worn  out  or  repairs  are  necessary.  To  save  the 
investment  of  capital,  we  should  get  every  hour's 
work  out  of  it  that  we  can  ;  it  should  be  maintained 
in  such  good  order  that  any  man  can  run  it  suc- 
cessfully, who  can  run  a  locomotive  at  all.  Unless 
in  case  of  necessity  upon  the  road,  the  runner 
should  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  adjustment  of 
its  brasses  or  with  its  repairs ;  it  would  be  prefer- 
able that  he  should  not  know  upon  which  locomo- 
tive he  was  to  go  on  the  road ;  he  would  soon  find 
himself  compelled  to  be  the  better  engineer.  It 
is  doubtless  comfortable  for  him  to  run  upon  one 
particular  train,  to  learn  all  its  stops  and  its  sched- 
ule by  heart,  and  those  once  well  learned,  to  have 
little  else  to  do  than  to  open  and  shut  the  throttle; 
yet  this  is  scarcely  fair  sometimes  toward 
the  other  men  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  rota- 
tion, first  in  first  out,  will  procure  the  most  wide- 
awake set  of  men,  the  smartest  competition  be- 
tween them,  the  fairest  apportionment  of  labor, 
and  the  surest  readiness  for  every  emergency.  In 
the  very  first  of  the  trials  of  this  system,  there  will 
be  some  men  who  will  not  do  perfectly  well  with 
trains  which  they  have  never  run  before  ;  but  in  a 
brief  period  the  strife  for  precedence  in  credit  will 
make  every  man  ready  for  every  train. 

It  must  be  a  familiar  experiment  with  almost  all 
superintendents,  to  have   replaced  an  old  passen- 


too  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING, 

ger  man,  who  failed  to  make  time  with  the  ex- 
press, by  an  active  young  freight  runner,  who 
would  make  up  something  with  the  same  engine. 
A  false  notion  still  prevails  with  regard  to  the 
amount  of  wiping  which  is  necessary  for  an  engine. 
Experiment  has  demonstrated  that  if  the  guides 
and  more  exposed  bearings  are  wiped  once  in  100 
miles,  the  engines  suffer  no  injury  if  run  continu- 
ously 500  miles  without  general  cleaning;  to  all 
appearance  they  might  have  been  run  1,000  miles. 
The  saving  to  be  made  by  less  wiping  is  not  an 
important  one ;  it  is  the  saving  in  the  time  of  the 
engine,  which  is  of  great  value.  Thirty  years 
ago,  100  miles  was  commonly  supposed  to  be  as 
far  as  an  engine  could  be  prudently  run  without 
being  laid  off,  and  the  runs  were  generally  made 
shorter  than  this  ;  they  are  fixed  now  according  to 
the  endurance  of  the  men,  or  the  length  of  the 
divisions  of  the  road,  or  the  location  of  the  engine- 
houses  ;  when  there  is  need  of  all  the  engine-power 
available  upon  the  road,  there  is  no  reason  why 
one  engine  should  not  run  continuously  over 
several  divisions,  changing  men  as  often  as  neces- 
sary. As  to  men,  we  know  about  how  many  miles 
or  how  many  hours  of  running  they  will  safely 
bear ;  but  as  to  a  locomotive,  we  do  not  know  its 
limit  of  endurance,  which  depends  somewhat  upon 
the  dustiness  of  the  road-bed,  the  speed  of  the 
train,  the  quality  of  the  oil  used,  perhaps  ;  but  can 
be  readily  determined  for  each  road  by  a  little  ex- 


CONTINUOUS  LOCOMOTIVE  WORK.          lOt 

perimenting,  with  unprejudiced  observation.  The 
improved  condition  of  the  track,  and  also  the  vastly 
improved  construction  of  the  movable  parts  of  the 
locomotive,  have  altered  its  demands  for  read- 
justment, so  that  it  may  be  run  much  further  than 
it  could  under  the  unfavorable  circumstances  which 
once  prevailed.  To  increase  its  duty  in  a  given 
time,  is  one  of  the  readiest  means  of  lessening  the 
investment  of  capital,  upon  which  it  is  already 
difficult  to  pay  the  charges.  To  wear  out  old 
locomotives  by  honest  work  and  to  replace  them 
with  modern  improved  machines,  is  surely  better 
than  to  give  them  half  or  less  than  half  the  service 
to  do,  which  they  might  render  if  kept  constantly 
employed  ;  and  as  they  are  capable  of  much  longer 
periods  of  labor  than  those  who  run  them,  the 
only  way  to  accomplish  this  is  by  divorcing  the 
engine  from  its  runner,  making  it  ready  to  pull  a 
train  whenever  there  is  one  to  go.  There  will  be, 
on  most  roads,  isolated  instances  of  branch  trains 
or  remote  switching  engines,  upon  which  the  men 
can  not  be  frequently  rotated  ;  yet  they  should  be 
often  changed,  to  prevent  them  from  becoming 
slothful  and  indifferent,  which  is  more  or  less  the 
effect  upon  every  person  of  a  monotonous  life. 

The  most  satisfactory  results  of  this  mode  of 
operating  the  locomotives  will  be  perceived  when 
they  are  of  few  classes,  alike  in  their  most  im- 
portant features,  and  all  in  a  first-rate  condition 
for  use.  It  is  very  unwise  to  keep  any  engine  at 


102  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

work,  which  is  not  in  good  order,  for  it  is  not  only 
wearing  itself  out  unduly,  but  is  causing  money  to 
be  spent  in  extra  fuel,  in  tinkering  and  in  delays, 
which  were  better  expended  in  restoring  the 
machine  to  the  best  condition  of  which  it  is 
susceptible. 

If  the  engines  are  out  upon  the  road,  earning 
money,  they  will  not  need  so  much  engine-house 
room  as  if  they  must  be  housed  during  the  half,  or 
a  greater  part,  of  their  existence.  When  there 
was  much  brass  to  be  shined  up  on  each  engine, 
and  a  great  area  of  decorative  painting  to  be  wiped 
off  upon  each  tender,  it  was  desirable  that  the 
fireman  or  the  wiper  should  be  under  cover  while 
engaged  in  cleaning  the  machine;  now  that  the 
engines  are  built  more  for  business  and  less  for 
show,  it  is  only  needful  that  they  shall  stand  long 
enough  over  the  steam  pipes,  in  cold  weather,  to 
have  the  machinery  well  cleared  of  ice,  so  as  to  be 
thoroughly  wiped  ;  they  will  not  then  suffer  any 
damage  from  exposure,  if  properly  attended  to  by 
the  hostler. 

It  is  found  to  be  better  for  boilers  to  be  kept 
constantly  warm  than  to  be  frequently  cooled,  be- 
cause when  cooled  they  suffer  a  contraction  and 
consequent  strain  ;  it  will  also  result  in  a  saving  of 
fuel  to  keep  an  engine,  which  comes  off  the  road 
hot,  from  growing  .cold,  unless  it  is  to  stand  too 
long;  for  the  quantity  of  coal  required  to  fire  up 
a  cold  boiler  will  keep  a  hot  one  warm  a  long 


UNIFORM  LOCOMOTIVE  PA  TTERNS.         103 

time.  The  expense  of  keeping  an  engine  fired  up, 
out  of  doors,  in  cold  weather,  is  not  very  great,  if 
it  stands  still,  as  it  may  do  if  provided  with  in- 
jectors; it  ought  not  to  stand  very  long,  however; 
it  should  be  at  work.  Of  course,  there  should  be 
ample  room  in  round-houses  and  in  shops  to  make 
all  repairs  promptly,  with  the  men  and  machines 
comfortably  sheltered. 

Upon  most  railways  the  locomotives  have  been 
purchased  from  several  manufactories  at  various 
periods,  and  differ  from  each  other  in  every  possi- 
ble way,  so  that  there  are  only  a  few  of  one  pat- 
tern, which  compels  a  very  large  stock  of  the 
smallest  parts  to  be  carried,  in  order  to  be  ready 
to  make  slight  repairs  without  delay.  Opportun- 
ities occur,  when  there  is  a  considerable  break- 
down, or  when  an  engine  goes  into  the  shop  for 
general  repairs,  to  make  alterations  which  will 
bring  it  into  conformity  with  the  larger  number 
of  locomotives,  and  it  is  desirable  to  make  such 
changes  at  a  comparatively  large  cost,  for  the  sake 
of  finally  bringing  about  uniformity. 

Nothing  is  more  important  upon  a  railroad  than 
interchangeability  of  parts  in  everything  which  is 
subject  to  wear ;  whether  pertaining  to  pumps,  to 
tracks,  to  cars,  to  signals,  or  chief  of  all,  to 
engines.  In  equipping  a  new  road,  it  would  be 
inexcusable  not  to  decide  upon  certain  standards 
and  to  adhere  to  them,  no  matter  where  the  loco- 
motives were  to  be  manufactured.  If  it  were  pre- 


104  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

ferred  to  have  them  built  by  several  makers,  the 
patterns  prepared  by  one  could  be  duplicated  and 
sent  to  the  others,  so  as  to  secure,  if  not  perfect 
interchangeability,  yet  a  sufficiently  near  approach 
to  it  to  admit  of  the  substitution  of  standard 
parts,  when  any  renewal  is  required,  without  extra 
cost. 

There  is  more  frequent  necessity  for  the  renewal 
of  the  smaller  parts  of  a  locomotive  than  there 
ought  to  be  ;  the  breaking  down  of  the  engine 
while  upon  the  road  occurs  oftener  than  is  credit- 
able to  our  constructors  or  to  our  master  mechan- 
ics. It  is  proper  for  the  superintendent  to  expect, 
when  a  machine  is  sent  out  to  take  a  train,  that  it 
will  run  through,  without  hindrance  from  defects 
in  the  machinery.  It  is  said  to  be  a  very  rare  oc- 
currence in  England  or  in  France  to  have  an  engine 
disabled  upon  the  road,  and  this  is  affirmed 
upon  the  best  authority ;  probably  when  any 
thing  breaks  there  from  not  being  strong- 
enough,  they  renew  it  with  something  stronger, 
and  when  any  part  wears  rapidly  they  renew  it 
before  it  is  entirely  worn  through.  It  seems,  from 
the  continual  break-downs,  as  if  no  such  lesson 
was  taken  to  heart  upon  many  American  railways. 
Some  improvement  may  be  accomplished  in  this 
respect  by  keeping  a  careful  account  of  the  break- 
downs which  occur,  and  of  the  parts  which  fail ; 
an  interested  master  mechanic  will  require  all  the 
broken  parts  to  be  sent  to  him  and  will  gather 


INSPECTING  LOCOMO TI VE  BUILDING.        105 

instruction  and  warning  from  them.  When 
engines  are  bought  from  the  manufacturers  there 
are  sometimes  more  frequent  failures  of  small 
parts  than  upon  the  engines  which  are  built  in  the 
shops  of  the  railroad  company,  probably  because 
such  work  is  done  by  the  piece  in  the  manu- 
factories and  by  the  day  in  most  company's  shops. 
The  manufacturers  doubtless  secure  the  best  work 
they  can.  It  is  for  their  interest,  as  well  as  in- 
cumbent upon  them  as  honorable  dealers,  to  do 
so,  but  their  inspectors  may  not  always  be  so 
reliable  as  they  presume  them  to  be.  On  this 
account,  when  engines  are  being  built  by  them  for 
a  railway  company,  it  is  advisable  that  it  should 
send  its  own  inspector  to  supervise  their  con- 
struction. It  is  likely  that  he  will  find  many 
things  to  correct  and  to  object  to,  as  he  would 
even  in  the  company's  shops  ;  so  many  defects  as 
he  prevents  there,  so  many  less  will  there  be  to 
remedy  after  the  engines  are  upon  the  road.  There 
are  frequently  two  or  more  modes  of  doing  the 
same  work  as  to  which  the  manufacturers  may  be 
indifferent,  but  as  to  which  the  company's  master 
mechanic  or  designer  may  have  decisive  reasons 
for  a  choice;  at  such  times,  the  presence  of  the 
inspector  is  an  advantage  to  the  manufacturers,  as 
it  surely  will  be,  also,  if  he  in  any  respect  secures 
a  better  engine  than  would  otherwise  have  been 
obtained. 

Until  recently,  there  has  existed  a   prejudice 


106  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

among  many  master  mechanics  against  loading 
the  freight  engines  to  their  maximum  capacity, 
arising  partly  from  a  fear  that  the  engines  would 
be  more  rapidly  worn  out  than  if  they  hauled  only 
such  trains  as  they  could  easily  pull  through,  and 
partly  from  the  faulty  manner  in  which  the  ac- 
count of  the  performance  of  engines  is  usually 
kept.  Careful  accounts  have  proved  that  the 
repairs  per  ton  hauled  are  not  increased,  but  on 
the  contrary  are  much  diminished  by  loading  the 
engines  with  all  they  can  possibly  draw ;  indeed, 
when  the  repairs  are  calculated  by  the  mile  rurt 
they  are  not  sensibly  increased  by  the  greater 
loads.  The  quantity  of  fuel  consumed  per  mile, 
not  per  ton,  is  of  course  increased,  and  as  the 
reports  of  fuel  burned  are  rendered  by  the  mile, 
the  master  mechanic  who  is  doing  the  best  work 
in  this  respect,  may  compare  unfavorably  with 
one  whose  engines  are  hauling  fewer  tons  over 
similar  grades.  Because  of  this  imperfect  method 
of  making  the  locomotive  reports,  those  of  one 
road,  or  of  the  several  divisions  upon  any  road, 
can  not  be  compared  with  any  justice,  unless  by 
some  one  who  is  acquainted  with  such  details  as 
the  grades  upon  each  division,  the  quality  of  the 
fuel  and  the  speed  of  the  trains,  none  of  which 
find  place  in  the  published  returns.  Such  com- 
parisons would  be  so  desirable,  if  they  could  be 
generally  made,  that  the  master  mechanics  could 
undertake  nothing  at  their  conventions  which 


PREMIUMS  TO  ENGINEMEN.  107 

would  be  more  useful,  than  to  devise  a  system  of 
accounts  by  which  the  performances  of  locomo- 
tives, upon  their  several  railroads,  could  be  really 
compared. 

It  has  resulted  satisfactorily  upon  the  roads 
where  the  experiment  has  been  tried,  to  pay 
premiums  to  the  engineers  and  firemen  for  the 
savings  which  they  effect  when  compared  with 
others,  or  with  a  standard  of  performance  which 
is  fixed  as  a  reasonable  one  by  the  officers  of  the 
road.  The  cost  of  fuel  for  engines  is  from  5  to 
6  per  cent,  of  the  total  of  the  earnings,  or  from  9 
to  10  per  cent,  of  the  total  of  expenses,  upon  the 
average  of  the  railroads ;  and  it  is  of  very  great 
importance,  therefore,  to  secure  economy  in  its 
consumption  by  all  the  means  which  are  possible. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  put  into  effect  a  method  by 
which  it  may  be  certainly  determined  whether  one 
man  is  burning  more  than  another  or  more  than 
the  average  ;  and  if  a  premium  is  paid  for  unusual 
economy,  the  greater  number  of  the  men  will 
strive  to  earn  it,  and  those  who  succeed  will  fairly 
deserve  to  receive  it ;  perhaps  the  spirit  of  emula- 
tion which  is  excited,  and  which  makes  honorable 
mention  more  precious  than  money,  may  have 
even  more  effect  than  the  hope  to  gain  a  pecuniary 
reward. 

The  combustion  of  coal  in  the  furnaces  of 
locomotives  has  been  the  subject  of  very  elaborate 
investigations  and  experiments,  and  is  probably 


Io8  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

fairly  well  understood  as  to  its  theory ;  to  secure 
the  best  results  in  practice  has  puzzled  the  best 
wits  in  the  engineering  profession  ;  nevertheless, 
it  is  the  custom  to  send  as  firemen  upon  the 
locomotives  the  least  informed  class  of  men,  who 
have  had  no  opportunities  to  learn  any  thing  of 
their  business,  and  who  get  only  the  very  slightest 
hints  from  the  engine-driver,  who  is  presumed  to 
know,  and  to  instruct  his  fireman  how  to  fire. 
The  art  of  stoking,  as  it  is  called  in  England,  has 
there  been  carried  to  such  a  refinement  that  the 
most  expert  stokers,  who  are  employed  to  fire  the 
agricultural  engines  during  the  trials,  get  very 
high  wages,  as  the  foremost  jockeys  do ;  a  fact 
which  is  cited  here  to  indicate  of  how  great  value, 
in  firing,  a  knowledge  of  the  art  may  be.  A  plain, 
brief  manual  upon  this  art,  which  would  enlighten 
the  enginemen  and  firemen  as  to  what  is  going  on 
in  the  fire-box,  and  how  to  insure  the  best  results, 
would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  the  railroads  of 
this  country  ;  while  this  need  remains  unsupplied, 
there  should  be  instruction  of  the  men  practically 
by  the  most  expert  firemen  upon  the  road,  or  who 
can  be  found  anywhere,  who  generally  know  more 
about  it  than  the  average  engineman,  and  who 
should  be  detailed  to  ride  a  few  trips  with  every 
new  man,  and  during  their  spare  intervals  with  the 
older  men,  to  teach  them  all  they  can  as  to  saving 
fuel.  The  nuisance  of  smoke,  upon  roads  which 
burn  soft  coal,  maybe  mitigated  by  judicious  firing. 


LOCOMOTIVE  TRIMMING.  109 

The  best  color  for  locomotives  and  tenders  is 
black  ;  when  the  paint  is  defaced  it  is  most  easily 
matched,  it  is  more  enduring  than  any  other  and 
can  be  mixed  and  applied  with  the  least  demand 
for  skilled  labor ;  to  the  accustomed  eye,  it  looks 
the  best  of  any.  The  less  polished  work  of  brass 
or  of  iron  upon  the  engines,  the  less  rubbing  and 
care  will  be  required  to  keep  them  bright.  There 
has  been  a  great  reduction  effected  in  the  labor  of 
firemen  and  wipers  already,  by  painting  many 
parts  which  were  formerly  kept  bright,  yet  there 
is  room  to  carry  the  reform  still  further. 

Not  much  valuable  advice  can  be  given  as  to 
the  best  model  or  pattern  of  engine  to  be  built  or 
purchased  without  a  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
to  be  fulfilled,  which  depend  upon  the  character- 
istics of  the  road,  the  kind  of  service  for  which  the 
engine  is  wanted,  and  the  amount  of  traffic  to  be 
provided  for.  It  may  be  safely  affirmed,  that  for 
any  service  it  is  better  to  have  engines  of  more 
than  necessary  power,  rather  than  those  which  are 
too  feeble,  or  only  just  of  sufficient  power ;  for  there 
will  be  occasions,  as  in  snow  storms,  when  it  will 
require  the  utmost  efforts  of  the  locomotive  to 
pull  such  a  train  as  it  is  accustomed  to  haul  with 
ease.  It  would  not  be  wise,  however,  to  provide 
a  large  surplus  of  power  in  a  locomotive  which 
will  have  only  a  certain  determined  work  to  per- 
form, simply  to  meet  occasional  exigencies;  yet 
as  a  general  rule,  trains  upon  any  road  increase  in 


110  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

weight,  in  speed,  and  in  number.  A  large  boiler 
produces  steam  more  cheaply  than  a  small  one, 
which  is  also  favorable  to  the  choice  of  a  heavier 
rather  than  a  lighter  engine. 

It  was  once  supposed  that  locomotives  for  very 
fast  express  trains  must  be  limited  to  one  pair  of 
drivers  ;  the  improvements  in  mechanical  work 
have  made  it  possible  to  run  the  fastest  trains  in 
the  world  with  two  pairs  of  drivers  coupled ;  and 
some  of  the  fastest  trains  in  this  country  are  now 
run  with  Mogul  engines,  which  have  three  pairs 
of  drivers  coupled.  The  power  of  a  locomotive  is 
limited  by  the  amount  of  adhesion  to  the  track 
which  is  obtainable  through  its  drivers,  and  because 
that  adhesion  is  due  to  the  weight  borne  by  them, 
which  in  its  turn  is  governed  by  the  consideration 
of  what  can  safely  be  borne  at  one  point  by  the 
rail  or  wheel,  it  is  apparent  that  the  maximum 
weight  of  an  express  train  has  been  increased 
about  three-fold  by  this  advance  in  mechanical 
construction. 

It  should  be  always  remembered  that  the  cost 
of  running  a  very  heavy  train  is  but  little  more, 
comparatively,  upon  the  same  road,  than  the  cost 
of  hauling  one  which  is  much  lighter,  and  the  cost 
per  ton  per  mile  is  rapidly  reduced  by  an  increase 
in  the  capacity  of  the  locomotive.  This  has  led 
to  a  very  great  addition  to  the  weight  and  power 
of  engines  lately  built  for  roads  of  large  traffic, 
especially  when  such  roads  have  also  heavy  grades 


HE  A  V  Y  LOCOMO  TIVES.  1 1 1 

which  must  be  surmounted.  There  is  no  longer 
any  mechanical  objection  to  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  coupled  drivers  sufficient  to  carry  the 
entire  weight  of  the  engine  upon  them,  so  as  to 
avail  of  it  all  for  adhesion  to  the  track. 

The  weight  of  the  engines  which  may  be  em- 
ployed upon  any  road  is  or  should  be  limited  by 
the  load  which  the  bridges  and  other  structures 
will  carry,  without  improper  strain — a  limitation 
which  has  not  received  always  the  consideration 
which  it  merits. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CARS. 

QUALITY  OF  AXLES — WHEEL  TREADS  —  ROUND  WHEELS — 
TRUCKS  AND  SAFETY  ATTACHMENTS  —  INTERCHANGE- 
ABILITY  OF  PARTS — INTERCHANGE  OF  CARS — LUBRICATION 
— LIMIT  OF  LOADS. 

It  would  require  several  chapters,  or  perhaps  a 
whole  book,  to  treat  adequately  of  the  various 
kinds  of  cars  and  of  the  uses  for  which  they  are 
intended  ;  it  is  chiefly  upon  those  features  which 
are  common  to  all  varieties  that  it  is  intended  to 
comment  here. 

The  Master  Car-Builders'  Association  has 
adopted  and  printed  drawings  of  a  considerable 
number  of  standard  parts,  to  which  the  railroads 
which  form  portions  of  through  lines  are  expected 
to  conform  the  cars  which  run  off  their  own 
roads  in  exchange  for  the  cars  of  other  roads 
forming  the  line.  The  axle  to  be  used  as  a  stand- 
ard is  carefully  defined  in  all  its  dimensions,  but  as 


QUALITY  OF  AXLES.  113 

yet  nothing  has  been  ruled  by  the  Association  as 
to  the  quality  of  the  metal  of  which  it  shall  be  made. 
In  this  respect  axles  differ  as  much  as  bad  differs 
from  best ;  and  only  the  best  have  any  claim  to  be 
used  upon  a  railroad.  As  a  general  rule,  an  axle 
made  from  scrap  will  not  endure,  before  breaking, 
one-half  the  number  of  blows,  each  being  suffi- 
cient to  bend  the  axle,  that  one  of  the  same  size 
made  from  rolled  bars  will  stand  ;  and  these 
superior  axles  will  be  more  likely  to  carry  safely 
the  increased  loads  lately  imposed  upon  cars  than 
those  which  are  less  tough  ;  but,  unfortunately, 
the  better  ones  cost  the  more.  A  railroad 
manager  who  is  buying  new  cars  experi- 
ences a  great  tempteition  to  use  the  poorer 
axles,  when  he  finds  that  the  difference  in 
cost,  upon  the  number  of  axles  required,  would 
pay  for  several  additional  cars ;  but  if  he  will  re- 
flect that  the  average  life  of  a  good  axle,  as  de- 
termined, by  past  experience,  is  about  fifteen 
years  under  freight  cars,  and  consider  the  number 
of  torsions  and  shocks  to  which  an  axle  must  be 
subjected, in  that  period,  and  the  chances  which 
he  takes  with  an  inferior  axle  that  it  will  break 
under  some  of  these  strains  and  wreck  a  car,  per- 
haps a  train,  perhaps  a  life,  it  surely  "  must  give 
him  pause." 

The  wrecks  of  freight  trains,  caused  by  bad 
axles  under  the  cars  of  a  certain  freight  line,  cost 
not  less  than  $20,000  to  one  company  in  the  line, 


114  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

in  one  winter;  it  happened,  too,  that  they  were 
the  only  axles  broken  upon  the  road  during  that 
winter;  the  class  of  axles  which  had  been  broken 
was  hastily  replaced  under  all  the  cars,  and  the 
accidents  ceased. 

It  has  been  found  convenient  and  satisfactory 
to  use  the  same  standard  of  size  for  axles  under 
passenger  coaches  and  tenders  of  engines  as  under 
the  freight  cars  ;  the  strains  to  which  they  are  ex- 
posed in  the  fast  trains  makes  it  advisable  to 
change  them  frequently,  which  can  be  done  with- 
out loss  when  the  different  classes  of  equipment 
use  the  same ;  the  axles  may  be  used  for  about  a 
year,  or  run,  say  50,000  miles  in  the  faster  service, 
then  be  replaced  by  others  and  allowed  to  finish 
their  term  under  freight  cars.  All  axles  and 
wheels  should  be  dated  and  numbered,  which, 
with  the  date  when  they  are  put  under  a  car  and 
the  number  of  the  car  and  when  shifted  to  another 
car,  should  be  all  recorded  in  a  book  kept  for  that 
purpose.  It  is  very  much  to  be  desired  that  the 
mileage  of  each  individual  car  should  be  correctly 
known ;  but,  as  that  can  not  be  under  the  present 
general  system  of  reporting  mileage  upon  foreign 
roads,  only  an  approximation  can  be  arrived  at, — 
perhaps  near  enough  to  determine  the  life  of  axles, 
if  the  kind  of  service  in  which  the  car  has  been 
engaged  is  taken  into  account  ;  for  cars  in  some 
kinds  of  traffic  run  four  or  five  times  as  many 
miles  in  a  given  period  as  others  in  another  sort  of 


AXLES  AND  WHEELS.  1 15 

traffic,  upon  the  same  road.  Experience  has 
made  it  quite  certain  that  proper  care  in  the  pur- 
chase, testing  and  rejection  of  axles,  will  almost 
eliminate  from  the  list  of  accidents  such  as  are  due 
to  the  breaking  of  them  in  service.  The  homo- 
geneousness  of  steel  and  its  superior  strength 
would  give  it  decided  claims  to  preference  over 
iron  as  a  material  for  axles,  were  it  not  for  faults 
probably  due  to  improper  manipulation  in  manu- 
facture ;  up  to  this  date  there  is  not  the  same  cer- 
tainty that  every  axle  in  a  lot  will  be  as  tough  as 
the  one  taken  at  hazard  for  proving,  if  the  lot  is  of 
steel,  as  if  it  is  a  lot  of  rolled  iron  axles.  Break- 
ages occur,  which  show  that  some  of  the  lot  are 
brittle,  while  others  may  be  extremely  tough. 
The  journals  of  iron  axles  are  very  apt  to  be 
seamed  with  minute  flaws,  due  to  the  imperfect 
union  of  the  pieces  of  which  they  are  made ; 
which  flaws,  although  so  small  as  to  be  almost 
microscopic,  do  nevertheless  act  as  a  sensible 
roughness  unfavorably  upon  the  brass  bearing ; 
the  journals  of  steel  axles,  on  the  contrary,  are 
crystalline  and  without  a  flaw.  It  is  just  to  state 
that  some  great  American  roads  prefer  the  steel 
axles,  finding  them,  on  the  whole,  more  satisfac- 
tory than  iron  ones ;  and  that  in  England  and  in 
Europe  they  are  regarded  with  much  favor. 

Until  within  a  few  years  the  only  car  wheels 
used  in  this  country  were  made  of  cast  iron  ; 
there  are  a  few  of  other  varieties  used  now  upon 


Il6  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

passenger  cars  and  locomotives,  where  the  greatest 
safety  is  wished  for,  yet  the  immense  majority  of 
wheels  is  of  cast  iron.  A  recent  report  by  Mr. 
M.  N.  Forney  to  the  Master  Car-Builders'  Asso- 
ciation has  shown  that  there  is  a  very  great 
diversity,  in  important  particulars,  among  wheels 
which  have  been  supposed  to  be  substantially 
uniform  ;  that  none  of  them  are  adapted  to  the 
rails  upon  which  they  run,  and  that  as  to  the 
form  of  rails  and  wheels  there  ought  to  be  a 
definite  agreement  among  engineers,  car-builders 
and  wheel-makers,  to  secure  better  results  ;  which 
can  be  readily  had  for  both  rails  and  wheels  by 
slight  changes  in  the  forms  of  the  surfaces  of 
both.  Now  that  the  cars  from  each  road  run  over 
so  many  other  roads,  in  through  lines  or  with 
through  freight,  the  reform  becomes  important  to 
every  road,  and  it  can  afford  to  adopt  a  compro- 
mise not  quite  satisfactory,  rather  than  to  suffer 
from  the  evils  which  Mr.  Forney  has  so  ably 
pointed  out.  How  much  damage  may  result, 
from  a  want  of  correspondence  between  the  rails 
and  the  wheels,  was  conclusively  shown  by  a 
costly  experiment  inflicted  some  years  ago  upon  a 
railroad  by  its  engineer,  who,  perhaps  rightly, 
conceived  that  a  rail  with  a  much  broader  head 
than  the  one  in  use  would  be  very  desirable,  and 
he  laid  down  in  one  season  a  great  many  miles  of 
such  a  rail.  Probably,  if  he  could  have  run  only 
new  wheels  over,  his  new  track  it  would  have 


WHEELS.  117 

worn  to  his  satisfaction ;  but  as  the  wheels  were 
in  fact  nearly  all  worn  to  a  groove  more  or  less 
deep,  corresponding  with  the  narrower  heads  of 
the  older  rails,  they  bore  upon  the  new  rails  at  the 
edges  of  these  grooves  only,  and  soon  broke  down 
the  heads  of  the  rails  to  a  rough  conformity  with 
the  prevailing  width.  Any  sudden  and  wide 
departure  from  common  forms,  in  either  rails  or 
wheels,  would  prove  costly,  as  this  one  did,  but  a 
judicious  modification  would  result  in  general 
benefit. 

The  durability  of  wheels  has  been  vastly 
increased,  perhaps  doubled  on  the  average  during 
the  past  ten  or  twelve  years,  chiefly  by  reason  of 
exact  records  of  their  performances,  which  were 
kept  by  a  few  roads ;  owing  to  the  defective 
method  of  reporting  mileage  before  alluded  to, 
this  exact  record  could  only  extend  to  locomo- 
tives and  passenger  cars,  and  to  the  few  freight 
cars  which  did  not  run  off  their  own  road. 
Doubtless  the  effect  of  complete  accounting 
would  have  been  even  more  favorable  to  the  rail- 
ways. Manufacturers  are  now  ready  to  guarantee 
an  average  wear  of  60,000  miles.  The  manufac- 
ture by  several  large  roads  of  a  part  of  their  own 
wheels,  for  comparison  with  those  purchased  and 
for  experiment,  also  contributed  toward  the  fa- 
vorable results  which  have  been  attained.  The 
chilled  cast-iron  wheels  are  rarely  exactly  round  ; 
when  bored  for  the  axle,  they  are  centered  in  a 


1 1 8  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

chuck  which  divides  the  eccentricity  as  much  as 
possible  ;  yet  it  is  very  desirable,  with  the  enor- 
mous loads  now  thrown  upon  them,  that  they 
shall  be  perfectly  round.  The  manufacturers  of 
machines  for  grinding  chilled  wheels  affirm  that 
the  wear  of  them  is  increased  by  grinding,  because 
they  are  thereby  made  very  smooth  and  round  ; 
others  believe  that  the  removal  of  the  outside  of 
the  chill  for  this  purpose  is  a  loss  ;  it  does  not 
admit  of  doubt  that  the  'damage  to  rails  arid  the 
strain  upon  the  axles  must  be  very  much  reduced 
by  making  them  round  before  they  are  put  into 
use.  If  the  specifications  upon  which  wheels 
are  bought  were  to  be  more  exacting  as  to  round- 
ness, it  is  possible  that  an  improvement  would  be 
accomplished.  It  is  one  great  recommendation 
of  all  varieties  of  steel-tired  wheels  that  they  are, 
or  may  be,  and  should  be,  round. 

There  is  nothing  which  so  nearly  approaches  a 
"  fortuitous  concourse  of  atoms"  as  an  ordinary 
freight  car  truck.  How  it  holds  together,  how  it 
does  duty  so  long,  are  questions  which  every 
mechanic  must  reflect  upon  with  amazement.  It 
is  not  strange  that  every  terminal  and  division 
yard  is  full  of  cripples,  and  that  every  truck  in 
every  car,  except  those  fresh  from  the  shop,  is 
lacking  something.  Every  master  car-builder 
could  improve  it,  if  he  were  to  try ;  and  would 
improve  it,  if  not  held  back  by  a  consideration  of 
first  cost ;  a  careful  accounting  would  certainly 


CAR  TRUCKS  119 

prove  that  it  is  better  to  pay  more  in  first  cost 
than  to  pay  so  much  for  constantly  repeated 
small  repairs,  as  is  now  necessary. 

The  two  great  inherent  dangers  to  freight 
trains,  after  that  of  breaking  apart  from  defective 
couplings,  have  been  from  broken  axles  and  from 
falling  brakes ;  either  of  which  accidents  was  for- 
merly sure  to  wreck  all  of  the  train  in  the  rear  of 
the  first  unfortunate  car.  The  axles  now  gener- 
ally pass  through  loops  upon  the  trucks,6  which 
hold  up  the  ends  of  a  broken  axle  and  steer  it 
along  the  track,  possibly  until  the  trainmen  dis- 
cover something  to  be  wrong;  the  brake-beams 
are  also  surrounded  by  loops,  or  arranged  to  be 
caught  in  some  manner,  if  the  main  attachment 
breaks.  These  are  judicious,  efficient,  and  not 
costly  devices,  which  should  be  used  by  all  roads, 
but  are  not. 

There  was  once  good  reason  for  the  attachment 
of  safety  chains  to  the  corners  of  all  trucks,  to 
keep  them  from  slewing  round  and  running  a 
derailed  car  away,  at  right  angles  with  the  track ; 
whereas,  if  held  by  chains,  the  derailed  cars  would 
follow  along  parallel  with  and  near  the  track. 
But  derailments  were  more  frequent  then  and  the 
cars  were  fewer  than  they  are  now.  The  chances 
then  were  that  any  car  would  suffer  many 
derailments  during  its" life:  the  chances  now  are 
very  good  that  any  car  may  escape  the  experience. 
It  is  more  economical  now  to  provide  for  keeping 


1 2 o  ELEMENTS  OF  RA ILROA DING. 

on  the  track  than  to  fit  all  the  cars  for  running 
off ;  but  passenger  cars  should  have  safety  chains 
attached  to  the  trucks,  because  the  risk  to  human 
life,  in  case  of  a  run-off,  would  be  by  them  much 
diminished. 

Uniformity  in  dimensions  of  parts  and  their 
interchangeability  have  been  before  referred  to 
and  recommended.  They  can  not  be  too  strongly 
insisted  upon  in  respect  of  cars,  and  in  no  other 
mechanical  department  is  it  easier  to  secure  this 
uniformity — even  to  the  timbers  of  the  various 
classes,  if  attention  is  given  to  the  matter  in 
designing  the  equipment.  It  will  require  study 
and  fertility  in  the  designer ;  but  such  a  result  has 
been  attained.  This  uniformity,  when  once  ar- 
rived at,  will  admit  of  almost  any  repairs  of  a  car 
being  cheaply  made  at  any  place  where  it  may 
stand  long  enough,  for  the  parts  can  be  prepared, 
completely  ready  for  use,  at  the  shops  of  the  rail- 
way, and  forwarded  to  where  the  car  is,  without 
any  necessity  for  measuring  or  fitting.  There  are 
roads  upon  which  one  may  notice  different  forms 
of  brake  shoes  on  the  passenger  cars,  freight  cars 
and  engines,  even  though  the  wheels  are  of  the 
same  dimensions  ;  and,  following  through  the  de- 
tails of  the  equipment,  it  will  be  found  that  there 
are  hundreds  of  patterns  in  use  where  a  score 
would  suffice,  and  consequently  an  immense  quan- 
tity of  castings  and  other  materials  must  be  kept 
on  hand,  in  order  to  be  ready  for  making  repairs. 


INTERCHANGE  OF  CARS.  121 

There  is  no  economical  reform  more  important 
than  to  reduce  this  diversity  to  the  lowest  term 
consistent  with  the  use  of  the  rolling-stock.  Much 
of  this  variety  may  be  due  to  the  equipment  hav- 
ing been  bought  of  several  makers,  each  of  whom 
has  used  his  own  patterns ;  it  would  have  been 
perfectly  feasible  for  the  company  to  have  re- 
quired all  cars  to  conform  in  all  particulars  to  a 
sample  car,  built  at  its  own  shop  or  at  one  of  the 
manufactories. 

It  will  be  best  to  keep  an  inspector  at  the 
manufactory  which  is  building  cars  for  a  railway 
company ;  for  it  will  be  more  satisfactory  to  all 
concerned  to  have  improper  materials  rejected  at 
the  shop  ;  and  they  can  be  discovered  or  tested 
more  readily  before  they  have  been  built  into  a 
car  than  afterward. 

The  interchange  of  through  cars  is  frequently 
interfered  with  by  the  captiousness  of  the  inspect- 
ors of  the  exchanging  companies,  each  trying  to 
be  smarter  than  the  other ;  and  they  will  some- 
times create  serious  delays  of  freight,  in  spite  of 
the  liberal  provisions  for  the  interchange  which 
have  been  made  by  the  master  car-builders.  It 
has  been  found  very  satisfactory  to  make  the  in- 
spector at  such  a  point,  with  a  sufficient  number 
of  his  men,  the  joint  employes  of  the  two  or 
more  companies  interested  ;  for  then  he  can  not 
differ  with  anyone  as  to  the  responsibility  for  any 
car,  and  the  business  proceeds  without  delay. 


122  ELEMENTS  OF  RA ILROA DING. 

At  one  place  oLinterchange,where  express  f  reignt 
was  delayed  by  the  inspectors  requiring  many  cars 
to  be  transferred,  it  was  arranged  that  the  inspect- 
ors' men  must  make  the  transfer  of  the  freight ;  the 
result  was,  as  may  be  supposed,  a  large  reduction  in 
the  number  of  cars  transferred.  Of  course,  it  was 
feared  that  some  neglect  might  follow  the  change, 
which  imposed  an  unpleasant  duty  upon  the  in- 
spectors, and  precautions  against  it  were  taken, 
but  they  proved  unnecessary. 

Great  sums  have  been  spent  for  lubricating  oils, 
upon  the  supposition  that  some  mysterious  com- 
position was  known  to  the  manufacturers,  which 
would  make  overloaded  journals  or  defective 
brasses  run  cool.  It  has  been  proven  by  innu- 
merable experiments  that  if  the  journals  are 
smooth,  not  overloaded  and  not  twisted  by  the 
truck,  they  will  run  cool  if  thoroughly  wet  with 
water,  or  with  the  poorest  oil  ;  but  they  must  be 
kept  wet — they  must  not  run  dry. 

The  passenger  trains  of  a  certain  road  were 
run  for  a  long  time  with  paraffine  oil  as  the  only 
lubricant.  Of  course  it  is  admitted  that  sperm 
and  castor  oils  will  carry  a  heavier  burden  upon  a 
journal,  without  heating,  than  other  oils  ;  but  it  is 
confidently  asserted  that  with  the  loads  that  are 
safe  in  railroad  practice,  a  cheap  lubricant  is  as 
good  as  a  costly  one  ;  the  attention  should  be 
fixed  upon  the  best  means  of  insuring  that  the 
•ournal  is  well  covered  with  it.  As  the  boxes  are 


CAR  LOADING.  123 

made,  the  oil  is  below  the  journal,  and  requires  to 
be  lifted  up  to  it,  which  is  generally  effected  by 
a  packing  of  cotton  waste  ;  this  often  settles  away 
from  the  journal,  under  the  constant  jarring  of  the 
truck.  It  is  therefore  prudent  to  require  it  to  be 
hooked  up  against  the  journal  at  each  inspecting 
station,  and  if  a  little  fresh  oil  is  poured  on  top 
of  the  packing  at  the  same  time,  it  will  add  to  the 
certainty  that  the  journal  will  be  thoroughly  lu- 
bricated. This  treatment  will  reduce J:he  number 
of  hot  journals  wherever  they  are  now  trouble- 
some. 

A  very  great  increase  in  the  loads  carried  by 
cars  of  all  kinds  has  taken  place  during  the  last 
ten  years,  or  since  the  great  improvement  in  tracks 
which  followed  the  introduction  of  steel  rails  and 
stiff  joints.  It  is  not  determined  yet  what  maybe 
the  limit  of  safety.  It  is  in  favor  of  extreme  loads 
that  the  number  of  parts  is  the  same  in  a  car 
which  carries  only  ten  tons  as  in  one  which  carries 
thirty  tons.  Some  of  the  parts  require  to  be 
stronger  in  the  heavier  loaded  car  than  in  the 
lighter,  but  others,  as  for  instance  the  roof,  the 
brakes,  the  doors,  do  not.  Indeed,  some  roads 
have  not  increased  the  weight  of  the  wheels, 
although  probably  it  would  be  advisable  to  do  so. 
It  is  also  in  favor  of  the  heavy  loads  that  they  do 
not  greatly  affect  the  draught  of  a  train  upon  light 
grades:  an  engine  will  haul  about  as  many  heavily 
loaded  cars  as  it  will  of  lighter  ones,  upon  a  level ; 


124  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

the  axle  friction  is  not  measurably  increased, 
while  the  other  greater  resistances  remain  the 
same,  or  nearly  so.  The  trusses,  the  trucks,  the 
springs  and  the  djaught  irons  need  to  be  strength- 
ened, of  course ;  but  they  increase  in  strength 
more  rapidly  than  in  weight,  so  that  the  weight  of 
a  car  to  carry  10  tons  has  been  increased  by  only 
about  one-fifth  of  the  additional  load,  in  order  to 
make  it  fit  to  carry  30  tons.  This  better  ratio  of 
dead  load  to  paying  load  makes  it  possible,  as  it 
has  long  been  desirable,  for  the  railroad  companies 
to  spend  more  upon  couplings  and  brakes  than 
they  have  done,  and  improvement  in  these  parts 
upon  freight  trains  is  what  now  seems  most 
needed. 

The  advantages  of  a  continuous  train  brake 
would  be  so  numerous,  as  almost  to  demand  a 
separate  chapter;  among  the  most  important  of 
these  would  be  the  removal  of  the  brakemen  from 
their  unsafe  position  on  top  of  the  freight  trains; 
rendering  it  feasible  to  reduce  the  height  of  over- 
head crossings  of  railroads  by  more  than  six  feet, 
and  the  cost  of  such  crossings  by  one  half. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   MOVEMENT  OF   FREIGHT. 


To  MAKE  ALL  CARS  AVAILABLE  —  PROMPT  LOADING  AND  UN- 
LOADING —  REPORTING  FOREIGN  CAR  MILEAGE—  SCALES 
AND  CRANES—  CHARGING  SEPARATE  ITEMS—  AVOID  SWITCH- 
ING —  LONG  TRAINS—  FREIGHT  BLOCKADES. 

The  first  requisite  is  a  supply  of  cars,  which  is 
now  often  seriously  interfered  with  by  the  very 
arrangements  which  the  great  lines  have  made  to 
insure  a  supply  of  them  ;  that  is,  by  the  assign- 
ment to  each  of  several  fast  freight  lines  of  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  their  equipment,  which  can  not  be 
diverted  to  any  other  service  than  that  of  the  line. 
It  not  unfrequently  happens  that  the  market  fora 
certain  grain,  for  instance,  is  suddenly  better  at 
one  port  than  at  the  others,  and  orders  for  ship- 
ments to  that  port  come  to  all  stations  upon  the 
road,  at  the  same  moment  ;  there  are  as  many  cars, 
probably,  upon  the  road,  as  would  be  required  to 
move  the  whole  quantity  as  fast  as  it  could  be 
loaded  ;  but  only  a  very  small  part  of  them  are  at 


1 2  6  ELEMENTS  OF  RA ILROA  DING. 

liberty  to  be  sent  to  the  port  in  question ;  the 
freight  must  be  delayed  until  cars  of  the  proper 
"  line "  can  be  brought  up  empty  to  receive 
the  freight ;  meanwhile  the  other  cars  stand 
still,  waiting  for  orders.  It  is  well  enough 
to  advertise  a  fast  freight  line  by  painting 
its  name  on  the  side  of  the  car,  and  to 
use  it  for  the  freight  of  that  line  when  it  has 
business  for  the  car;  but  a  railway  should  retain 
the  right  to  use  any  car  which  it  owns,  in  any 
direction  which  its  circumstances  may  require. 
This  was  not  so  important  when  the  first  freight 
lines  were  established  as  it  has  since  become  ;  but 
any  other  mode  of  using  cars  is  now  the  occa- 
sion for  an  excessive  movement  of  empty  cars 
from  place  to  place,  in  order  to  find  appropriate 
loads. 

When  cars  are  in  great  demand  upon  a  large 
system  of  roads,  they  can  only  be  judiciously  dis- 
tributed by  one  person,  who  commands  a  complete 
view  of  the  equipment  available  at  all  parts  of  the 
system,  and  the  wants  of  all.  Such  a  view  may 
be  had  by  properly  arranged  telegraphic  reports 
from  each  station  to  its  division  headquarters,  and 
from  all  the  divisions  in  a  condensed  form,  to  the 
central  office.  By  the  use  of  blanks  in  which 
every  kind  of  a  car  in  each  line  is  designated  by  a 
different  letter  of  the  alphabet,  the  numbers  of  all 
kinds  at  each  station,  and  the  number  required  to 
be  loaded  at  each,  may  be  indicated  by  a  few 


DELAY  OF  CARS.  I2f 

symbols  ;  and  the  report  may  be  ready  at  an  early 
hour,  to  permit  the  distribution  to  be  made,  by 
orders  from  the  central  office  to  division  head- 
quarters, and  from  them  to  stations. 

An  examination  of  the  reports  of  the  great  rail- 
ways will  show  results  something  like  this:  num- 
ber of  tons  moved  per  car  in  a  year,  from  500  to 
600,  or  about  i^  tons  per  day;  or  say  10  days 
for  each  car-load  of  1 5  tons  ;  yet,  as  the  average 
car-load  has  probably  not  reached  that  weight  on 
any  road,  the  journeys  are  somewhat  more  fre- 
quent than  this  would  indicate.  The  average 
movement  per  car  per  day  is  found  to  be,  upon 
active  roads,  for  the  year  about  36  miles,  varying 
with  the  several  classes  of  cars  from  12  miles  to 
80  ;  the  most  rapid  movement  taking  place  in 
stock  cars  ;  next  in  line  cars,  and  after  that  in  local 
cars,  which  do  not  leave  the  road.  The  delays  to 
local  cars,  especially  to  those  which  handle  coarse 
materials,  as  lime,  coal  and  lumber,  are  notorious 
and  shameful ;  they  result  in  great  loss  of  traffic 
to  the  roads,  because  the  equipment  is  not  gen- 
erally sufficient  for  the  demand,  and  in  injury  to 
shippers  and  consignees,  who  are  not,  in  conse- 
quence, promptly  served  ;  evidently  the  remedy  is 
not  in  providing  more  cars,  but  in  compelling 
them  to  be  promptly  loaded  and  unloaded.  So 
far  the  supposed  necessities  of  competition  have 
prevented  any  general  adoption  of  a  charge  for  the 
delay  of  cars  by  failure  of  consignees  to  unload  ; 


128  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

or  when  such  a  charge  has  been  adopted,  it  has 
not  been  forced  long  enough  to  have  any  perma- 
nent effect  ;  but  it  has  been  frequently  proved 
that  a  moderate  charge,  say  50  cents  a  day  for  all 
delays  over  24  hours,  sufficed  to  insure  quick  un- 
loading, when  it  has  been  strictly  enforced  ;  for 
business  men  are  not  indifferent  to  their  interests, 
and  will,  exert  themselves  to  avoid  any  unneces- 
sary tax.  Experience  has  demonstrated,  however, 
that  as  the  freight  departments  of  most  railways 
are  organized,  as  if  for  the  sole  purpose  of  obtain- 
ing traffic  without  regard  to  revenue,  it  will  not  be 
possible  to  collect  this  tax  through  the  ordinary 
agencies.  The  superintendent's  department  will 
be  the  most  likely  to  see  it  laid  on  without  fear  or 
favor,  for  it  is  that  one  which  finds  itself  imposed 
upon  by  the  delays  of  shippers  and  consignees. 
It  ought  not  to  need  much  argument  to  convince 
all  departments,  that  it  would  be  better  to  lose  the 
traffic  by  which  the  cars  are  delayed,  if  thereby 
the  cars  can  make  more  frequent  trips  with  other 
traffic,  which  is  awaiting  means  of  transport. 

The  delay  of  cars  when  on  foreign  roads  has 
been  one  of  the  sorest  grievances  of  which  the  rail- 
ways have  had  to  complain  to  each  other,  for 
which  no  adequate  remedy  has  been  found.  It 
has  been  ably  treated  of  in  papers  by  Mr.  W. 
P.  Shinn,  before  the  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  and  discussed  by  persons  of  experience ; 
those  who  wish  to  study  the  subject  in  detail  are 


WEIGHING  LOADED  CARS.  129 

referred  to  this  discussion.  Probably  there  is  no 
better  remedy,  in  the  present  condition  of  roads 
and  of  traffic,  than  would  be  afforded  by  the  sim- 
ple expedient  of  reporting  the  mileage  and  actual 
position  of  each  car  upon  every  road  to  its 
owners.  This  would  often  enable  the  owners  to 
provide  loads  homeward,  instead  of  having  the  car 
wait  idly  for  a  load  to  turn  up,  or  for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  other  roads  to  return  it  empty. 
Nothing  seems  more  reasonable  than^that  a  road 
should  demand  such  information  -as  to  the  where- 
abouts of  its  cars;  the  experiment  of  making  such 
reports  has  been  tried  and  found  to  be  easy,  val- 
uable, and  not  too  costly. 

Akin  to  the  loss  from  the  delays  of  cars  is  that 
unknown  but  immense  deficiency  in  revenue  from 
not  weighing  the  loads  which  they  carry — a  loss 
which  is  not  felt,  because  it  is  not  known  until 
weighing  is  resorted  to,  but  which  may  as  reason- 
ably be  neglected  in  the  transactions  between  a 
grocer  and  his  customers  as  between  a  railway  and 
shippers.  The  cost  of  track-scales  has  often  been 
pleaded  in  extenuation  of  a  neglect  to  provide 
them ;  but  where  the  traffic  amounts  to  ten  cars 
per  day,  experience  shows  that  the  gain  to  revenue 
may  be  reckoned  upon  to  repay  the  cost  of  scales 
in  a  year.  It  is  not  necessary  to  have  track-scales 
at  all  stations,  because  cars  may  be  weighed  at 
junctions  and  termini ;  it  is  insisted  that  the 
weight  carried  should  always  be  accurately  known 


130  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

and  charged  for.  The  only  party  who  suffers  by 
a  car-load  rate  is  the  railway  company. 

There  are  few  stations  in  the  older  parts  of 
the  country  at  which  the  business  would  not  be 
increased  by  the  erection  of  a  good  crane  or  der- 
rick, for  many  shipments  which  are  almost  impossi- 
ble, or  are  undertaken  with  great  hesitation  where 
there  is  none,  would  be  rendered  easy  if  such  a 
convenience  were  at  hand  ;  the  saving  of  delays 
in  loading  and  unloading  from  its  use  would  also 
be  considerable  ;  the  neglect  to  provide  cranes  at 
the  larger  stations  is  not  excusable  from  tjie  fact 
that  it  has  not  become  customary,  for  there  are  al- 
ways masses  of  stone,  iron  and  machinery  await- 
ing shipment  or  unloading  at  such  places,  which 
can  not  be  handled  economically  without  the  aid 
of  a  hoisting  machine.  If  thought  best,  no  doubt 
a  slight  charge  would  be  cheerfully  borne  by 
patrons  for  the  use  of  it,  yet  the  benefits  to  be  de- 
rived by  the  company  from  its  employment  would 
be  a  sufficient  return  upon  its  cost. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  charges  upon  freights 
are  not  divided,  so  as  to  snow  how  much  is  for 
transportation,  how  much  for  handling,  and  what 
part  is  for  the  use  of  the  stations  or  terminals.  It 
can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  such  a  division 
would  be  of  advantage  to  the  railway  company, 
for  the  justice  of  the  aggregate  of  small  charges 
would  be  more  readily  appreciated  than  is  a  gross 
sum  per  hundred,  or  even  than  a  rate  per  ton  per 


FREIGHT  CHARGES.  131 

% 

mile.  These  last  methods  of  calculating  rates 
must  be  very  deceptive  even  to  experienced  trans- 
portation men,  because  they  must  be  applied  for 
various  distances,  to  different  articles  destined  to 
points  at  which  facilities'and  expenses  vary  widely. 
At  any  station,  it  is  probable  that  the  cost  of 
handling  one  class  of  freight  will  be  per  ton  five 
times  as  great  as  that  of  another  class  ;  and  that 
there  will  be  other  classes  of  which  the  terminal 
cost  will  lie  all  the  way  between  these  extremes. 

Although  these  differences  are*  not  shown  in 
the  tariffs  nor  explained  to  shippers,  it  is  very 
important  that  they  shall  be  accurately  known  to 
those  who  make  the  rates,  and  duly  considered  by 
them.  Among  the  few  terminal  charges  which 
are  now  collected  as  separate  items,  the  most 
important  are  those  for  switching:  that  is,  for 
placing  cars  to  be  loaded  or  unloaded  on  private 
sidings,  or  on  the  sidings  of  other  lines;  at  great 
stations  this  is  a  source  of  large  revenue,  if  prop- 
erly attended  to.  It  is  often,  in  our  railway  prac- 
tice, left  to  the  option  of  the  agent  at  the  station 
whether  to  make  the  charge  or  not ;  and  some- 
times there  is  no  check  upon  his  collections,  and 
he  reports  to  the  treasurer  such  a  sum  as  he  pleases 
on  account  of  switching.  Such  methods  need 
reformation. 

On  long  roads,  the  frequent  breaking  up  of 
trains  at  the  division  termini  and  reasserting  of 
the  cars  is  a  source  of  great  expense,  to  reduce 


132  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

which  it  is  worth  while  to  expend  much  labor  and 
to  endure  some  delay,  especially  to  freights  which 
are  not  of  a  perishable  character.  Each  time  that 
a  car  is  shunted  it  runs  some  risk  of  injury, 
especially  to  its  draught  irons  and  brakes  ;  perhaps 
one-third  or  one-quarter  of  the  repairs  of  freight 
cars  is  due  to  damage  in  shunting.  The  mileage 
of  switching  engines  is  not  known  ;  it  is  usually 
estimated  at  six  miles  per  hour,  at  which  rate  the 
aggregate  is  about  half  as  much  as  the  whole 
mileage  of  engines  upon  freight  trains.  The 
amount  of  violent  exercise  to  which  the  cars  are 
subject,  in  consequence  of  this,  can  only  be  real- 
ized by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  operations 
of  a  terminal  yard  upon  a  dark  and  stormy  night. 
Of  course,  if  this  switching  is  avoided,  not  only 
the  damage  to  cars  is  less,  but  the  number  of 
engines  and  of  yardmen  may  be  correspondingly 
reduced.  A  great  deal  may  be  done  to  lessen  the 
breaking  up  of  trains,  by  making  up  solid  trains 
for  through  and  division  points  at  termini  and 
important  junctions,  and  by  starting  trains  out 
with  the  cars  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  to  be 
left,  if  any  are  to  be  dropped  on  the  way.  It  will 
require  systematic  effort,  patierfce  and  the  co-oper- 
ation of  many  persons  to  accomplish  great  results 
in  this,  but  success  in  it  will  benefit  the  railway 
company  correspondingly. 

The  cost  of  hauling  a  train  through  a  division 
is  made  up  of  items  which  do  not  vary  with  the 


LONG  FREIGHT  TRAINS.  133 

number  of  cars  taken  or  the  tons  hauled,  to  an 
appreciable  extent ;  only  the  quantity  of  fuel  and 
water  consumed  by  the  engine  are  affected  enough, 
by  any  difference  in  the  load,  to  make  that  differ- 
ence perceptible.  It  is,  therefore,  a  ready  means 
of  reducing  the  cost  of  transportation  to  increase 
the  loads  taken  by  the  engines,  if  they  can  be 
increased,  as  on  many  roads  they  can.  The  num- 
ber of  cars  may  often  be  augmented  upon  the 
whole  length  of  a  division,  except  at  some  limit- 
ing grade,  at  which  it  will  be  advisa&le  to  station 
a  helping  engine,  if  the  traffic  is  sufficient  to  jus- 
tify it,  which  may  be  easily  determined  by  a  cal- 
culation ;  or  a  part  of  the  train  may  be  left  upon 
a  siding  at  the  foot  of  the  grade,  to  be  returned 
for  by  the  engine  when  the  other  part  of  the  train 
has  been  taken  to  the  summit.  Such  additions  to 
the  work  done  will  be  resisted  by  the  employes 
concerned,  and  even  by  officers,  because  of  the 
trouble  involved  ;  the  employes  frequently  object 
because  the  number  of  trips  required  and  there- 
fore the  number  of  men  employed  are  thereby 
reduced ;  yet,  as  these  objections  are  not  well 
founded,  they  always  yield  to  a  persistent  deter- 
mination. Where  the  nature  of  the  country  and 
the  volume  of  traffic  will  admit  of  it,  the  best 
mode  of  overcoming  the  limiting  grade  is  by  a 
reconstruction  of  the  line,  reducing  the  grade. 
This  has  been  done  very  profitably  upon  many  of 
the  older  railways. 


134  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

When  the  movement  of  freight  is  obstructed 
upon  a  great  road,  in  consequence  of  some  great 
storm  or  disaster,  the  accumulation  of  cars,  if  the 
traffic  is  at  its  height,  may  become  almost  appal- 
ling to  those  who  are  charged  with  the  duty  of 
forwarding  them  to  destination.  The  blockade 
is  sometimes  rendered  much  worse  than  it  need 
be  by  injudicious  efforts  to  "  rush  things." 

The  amount  of  traffic  which  can  be  passed 
through  a  division  yard  in  a  given  time  is  often  the 
limiting  consideration  ;  and,  generally,  such  yards 
will  admit  of  useful  work  by  only  a  certain  num- 
ber of  switching  engines.  It  will  therefore  be 
impossible  to  take  care  of  more  than  a  determined 
number  of  trains  at  once  ;  to  allow  more  than  that 
number  to  enter  the  yard  would  result  in  hinder- 
ing the  operations  of  the  yard-men  and  cause 
delay  instead  of  hastening  the  movement.  The 
chief  duty  of  a  superintendent,  then,  will  be  to 
keep  all  trains  under  control,  so  as  to  prevent  a 
blockade  at  any  point.  The  zeal  of  yard-men  and 
of  train  dispatchers,  at  the  termini,  is  apt  to  be 
quite  sufficient  to  hasten  the  departure  of  trains 
in  as  rapid  succession  as  the  power  at  command 
will  admit  of.  When  the  trains  have  reached  the 
next  division  yard,  their  responsibility  for  them 
is  ended.  There  must  be  some  one  in  control  of 
the  whole  movement,  who  will  arrest  it  from 
either  direction  when  it  is  too  rapid.  The  worst 
blockades  have  resulted  from  overcrowding,  in 


FREIGHT  BLOCKADES.  135 

consequence  of  a  want  of  coolness  or  of  firmness 
on  the  part  of  the  superintendent  or  manager,  who 
will  be  beset  at  such  times  not  only  by  the 
troubles  incident  to  the  movement  of  trains,  but 
by  the  clamors  of  the  shippers  and  consignees, 
aided  probably  by  the  officers  and  employes  of 
other  departments.  If  he  loses  his  head,  or  yields 
a  hair  beyond  his  deliberate  judgment,  he 
may  be  lost  ;  he  must  keep  cool  and  trust  to  the 
successful  unraveling  of  the  snarl  to  be  his  vindi- 
cation. The  attempt  to  move  too  "much  traffic 
in  a  given  time  is  likely  to  involve  also  destruc- 
tion of  engines  and  cars ;  the  employes,  being 
hurried  and  overworked,  use  less  than  common 
prudence,  when  the  circumstances  really  demand 
more  than  usual  caution  to  avoid  collisions. 

The  small  obstacles  to  the  prompt  movement 
of  freight  are  too  many  to  be  recited,  and  they 
will  differ  upon  every  line  and  at  every  point  upon 
it.  They  can  only  be  discovered  by  the  patient 
investigation  of  every  complaint,  and  they  can 
generally  be  removed  when  their  cause  is  under- 
stood. Instead  of  regarding  complaints  as  an 
annoyance,  the  judicious  manager  will  look  upon 
them  as  a  help  to  improve  his  administration. 
He  may  be  quite  certain  that  they  are  not  nearly 
so  numerous  as  would  be  for  his  advantage — for 
there  are  only  a  few  persons  who  are  active- 
minded  enough  to  write  down  their  griefs ;  a  very 
large  majority  only  curse  the  road  or  its  manage- 


136  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

ment  for  what  they  presume  to  be  shameful  indif- 
ference. It  will  be  found  that  agents,  who  have 
been  carefully  instructed  by  circular,  have  not 
read  the  circular;  that  they  lost  their  copy,  or  if 
they  read  it,  they  put  a  construction  upon  it 
which  no  other  person,  certainly  not  the  author  of 
it,  could  have  entertained.  Misunderstandings  of 
this  kind,  wholly  inconceivable  until  traced  out, 
will  account  for  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
miscarriages  of  freight.  The  "  capacity  of  the 
human  mind  to  resist  information  "  is  in  nothing 
more  thoroughly  demonstrated  than  in  this  mat- 
ter of  forwarding  freight. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
THE  MOVEMENT  OF   PASSENGERS. 

TREATMENT  OF  PASSENGERS — DISCIPLINE  OF  TRAINMEN— IN. 
SPECTION  OF  COACHES — UNIFORMS— REFRESHMENTS — LOCAL 
TRAINS — PORTERS — BAGGAGE. 

The  passenger  is  a  patron  ;  he  ought  to  be 
treated  in  such  a  manner  that  his  patronage  will 
be  continued  ;  it  is  for  the  interest  of  the  railway 
company  that  he  shall  be  courted,  surrounded 
with  conveniences  and  placated  by  attentions. 
The  passenger  department  appreciates  this,  and  in 
glowing  terms,  as  well  as  in  glowing  colors,  holds 
out  all  sorts  of  generous  inducements  to  the  pub- 
lic to  patronize  the  only  line  which  has  the  comfort 
of  the  passenger  at  heart.  Unfortunately,  the 
employes  of  the  transportation  department,  upon 
whom  is  devolved  the  care  of  the  traveler  after 
the  passenger  department  has  sold  him  a  ticket, 
are  not  so  much  impressed  with  their  obligations 
toward  this  patron  as  they  ought  to  be ;  it  is  their 
principal  concern  to  "  put  him  through,"  without 


138  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

much  regard  to  whether  he  shall  return  by  this 
favorite  route  or  not.  To  their  eyes  he  is  not  a 
patron,  but  a  parcel ;  if  delivered  at  destination 
in  an  undamaged  condition,  the  contract  of  the 
forwarder  will  be  fulfilled. 

This  is  the  most  natural  attitude  of  the  mind 
for  men  who  have  been  reared  as  the  conductors 
of  our  passenger  trains  have  usually  been.  In  a 
great  majority  of  instances  the  conductor  begins 
his  railroad  life  as  a  brakeman  ;  he  enters  the  serv- 
ice as  a  rough,  intrepid,  sanguine  fellow,  who 
has  conceived  the  idea  that  he  would  like  to  rail- 
road it  for  a  while.  Upon  a  freight  train  he 
learns  plenty  of  railroading,  but  his  energies  are 
absorbed  in  quite  other  duties  than  an  exchange 
of  civilities  with  travelers.  By  constant  and 
manly  devotion  to  these,  during  years  of  hard- 
ship, involving  great  dangers  to  life  and  limb,  he 
experiences  the  training  of  an  athlete,  not  of  a 
courtier,  while  he  learns  to  run  trains  safely  ac- 
cording to  the  rules ;  and  he  is  at  length  pro. 
moted  to  be  a  freight  conductor.  Some  more  years 
of  hard  life  in  this  capacity  finally  secure  for  him 
the  great  reward  of  merit,  and  he  becomes  a  pas- 
senger conductor. 

Energy,  promptness,  vigilance  and  obedience  to 
orders  are  the  characteristics  by  which  he  has 
earned  his  promotion,  and  are  those  which  wrill 
continue  to  influence  his  conduct  ;  they  are  the 
most  valuable  qualifications  which  -he  can  possess, 


TRAINING  TRAINMEN.  139 

both  for  the  advantage  of  the  railway  company 
and  for  the  safety  of  the  traveler  ;  and  until  he 
has  been  for  a  long  time  in  this  new  service,  he 
will  not  appreciate  fully  the  importance  of  minor 
things,  unless  he  is  endowed  with  uncommon 
quickness  of  apprehension. 

The  other  trainmen  have  commonly  had  less 
opportunity  than  the  conductor  for  instruction  in 
the  smaller,  but  important,  details  of  caring  for 
the  passenger  train  and  its  occupants. 

Now  it  is  clearly  not  from  ill-tyill,  but  from  a 
want  of  training,  that  their  deficiencies  arise  ;  the 
appropriate  remedy  for  which  is  to  supply  the 
necessary  education  in  the  shortest  and  readiest 
way.  It  would  be  very  well  to  organize  a  school 
of  the  trainman,  as  in  the  army  they  have  the 
•''school  of  the  soldier;"  failing  this,  the  most 
evident  substitute  for  it  will  be  provided  by  send- 
ing competent  inspectors  constantly  over  the  road 
upon  the  passenger  trains,  to  instruct  all  the  em- 
ployes in  the  minutiae  of  their  business. 

The  foregoing  remarks  are  intended,  of  course, 
as  generalities  ;  there  are  most  gentlemanly  and 
affable  conductors,  as  well  as  admirable  trainmen; 
the  object  of  this  disquisition  is  to  suggest  how 
others  may  be  formed  after  their  model. 

The  more  accomplished  conductors  upon  any 
road  would  be  likely  to  be  the  most  efficient  and 
most  acceptable  inspectors  who  could  be  selected  • 
they  should  have  no  authority  except  to  teach; 


140  ElEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

but  should  report  incorrigibles  to  the  superintend- 
ent for  "  promotion  to  the  freight."  They  will 
find  that  the  men  neglect  many  things  for  which 
plain  rules  are  printed  in  the  regulations  ;  possibly 
the  men  have  not  read  them,  or  have  not  remem- 
bered them.  Among  the  things  which  they  first 
need  to  teach,  is  attention  to  the  temperature  and 
ventilation  of  the  coaches ;  the  trainmen  are 
passing  continually  into  the  fresh  air  and  are 
naturally  somewhat  indifferent  to  the  state  of  the 
air  inside ;  but  the  comfort  of  the  passenger  de- 
pends as  much  upon  this  as  upon  any  other  one 
circumstance  connected  with  a  railroad  excursion. 
Other  needed  lessons  will  be,  not  to  pass  through 
the  coaches  oftener  than  is  necessary ;  to  go 
through  them  quietly  ;  not  to  slam  the  doors,  nor 
allow  others  to  slam  them  ;  not  to  bawl  the  names 
of  stations  while  the  doors  are  open,  but  to  an- 
nounce them  in  a  clear,  moderate  tone,  with  the 
doors  closed.  Let  the  trainmen  be  instructed  to 
assist  ladies  and  infirm  persons  on  and  off  the 
train,  and  to  provide  all  passengers  immediately 
with  seats,  not  compelling  them  to  make  room  for 
themselves.  They  should  also  be  taught  considera- 
tion for  the  poorer  classes  of  voyagers,  who  need 
it  more  than  the  richer  ones  ;  especially  for  the 
foreigners,  who  do  not  understand  our  customs,  and, 
often,  not  our  language ;  even  mercenary  con- 
siderations should  prompt  this,  for  "  bread  cast 
upon  the  waters  will  return  after  many  days." 


TREA  TMENT  OF  PA  SSENGERS.  141 

The  American  traveler  is  distinguished  by  an 
inquiring  mind,  and,  as  if  to  furnish  a  complete 
antithesis,  the  least  communicative  of  all  creatures, 
it  is  said,  is  the  American  railroad  man.  This 
difference  has  been  compromised,  at  a  few  great 
termini,  by  the  establishment  at  each  of  a  "  bureau 
of  information,"  an  institution  which  can  not  be 
too  highly  recommended  for  imitation  ;  but  on  the 
road  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  trainmen,  when 
asked  for  it,  shall  give  the  wayfarer  such  informa- 
tion as  they  can.  It  could  usually  do  no  harm  to 
tell  him  the  cause  of  a  detention  from  which  he  is 
suffering.  It  would  often  do  some  good  to  im- 
part particulars  about  an  obscure  junction  at 
which  the  stranger  must  debark  in  the  darkness. 
The  French  instruction  books  contain  a  rule  which 
we  can  profitably  copy,  although  we  can  not  ex- 
actly translate  it.  It  reads  :  "The  employes  must 
conduct  themselves  toward  travelers  as  if  they 
were  eager  (empresse)  to  oblige  them." 

The  condition  of  coaches  at  starting,  and  of 
waiting  rooms,  also  demands  the  inspector's  atten- 
tion ;  for  the  chilling  dampness  of  soaked  wooden 
floors,  in  the  station  and  in  the  coach,  is  apt  to 
curdle  the  blood  of  the  passenger  who  takes  an 
early  train  from  a  terminal  station.  Floors  ought 
never  to  be  soaked ;  they  will  be  cleaner,  more 
comfortable  and  more  durable  if  washed  with  only 
a  moderate  quantity  of  water ;  and  they  can  then 
be  dry  when  required  for  use.  On  some  roads  the 


142  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

distinction  between  the  several  classes  of  coaches 
is  but  little  observed,  because  there  are  not  enough 
of  the  inferior  classes,  so  that  the  most  expensively 
furnished  coaches  are  frequently  used  for  second 
class  and  for  smokers,  sometimes  even  for  emigrants. 
Aside  from  the  enormous  wastefulness  of  provid- 
ing plush-covered  seats  for  such  uses,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  they  do  not  part  with  the 
fragrance  which  has  been  so  imparted  to  them ; 
and  the  passenger  who  has  paid  for  a  first-class 
ticket  will  think,  if  he  does  not  complain,  that  he 
has  not  been  furnished  with  first-class  accommoda- 
tions if  placed  in  a  coach  which  has  been  so  used, 
even  if  it  is  a  new  one.  It  would  be  better  to 
provide  a  surplus  of  cars  for  the  inferior  classes, 
rather  than  of  the  superior  kinds,  for  passengers 
will  prefer  to  ride,  upon  a  pinch,  in  those  with 
hard  seats  to  being  placed  in  finer  ones  which  have 
been  befouled. 

Upon  every  road  which  has  tried  putting  its  men 
into  uniforms,  the  effect  has  been  found  to  be  ex- 
tremely good ;  it  leads  at  once  to  decorous  be- 
havior, and  it  is  certainly  very  desirable  that 
passengers  shall  be  able  to  distinguish  at  once  all 
the  persons  in  the  employ  of  the  company  from 
whom  they  are  likely  to  require  a  service.  Upon 
the  larger  roads  all  the  employes  should  be  uni- 
formed or  distinguished  by  some  noticeable  badge, 
in  order  that  they  may  be  recognized  by  officials. 
In  times  of  trouble  this  is  of  great  importance,  for 


PASSENGER  A CCOMMODA  TlONS.  143 

in  the  throng  which  huddles  about  on  such  occa- 
sions, it  is  impossible,  unless  they  are  so  indicated, 
to  select  men  who  should  obey  orders  from  those 
who  are  not  subject  to  them,  -y- 

It  contributes  much  toward  making  passengers 
contented  to  afford  them,  at  frequent  intervals, 
the  opportunity  of  getting  something  really  good 
to  eat  and  drink.  The  hunger  and  thirst  of  the 
richer  class  are  reasonably  well  taken  care  of  by 
the  dining  cars  and  buffets  ;  but  the  greater  num- 
ber do  not  patronize  these  luxurious  institutions, 
and  the  passengers  at  a  station  waiting  for  a  be- 
lated train  are  not  ministered  unto  by  them. 
Railways  generally  establish  a  few  main  refresh- 
ment rooms,  at  which  trains  stop  for  passengers 
to  eat  a  hasty  lunch,  but  do  not  encourage  the 
sale  of  refreshments  at  other  stations  ;  yet  the 
comfort  of  many  would  be  promoted  by  neat 
lunch  counters  at  all  considerable  stations ;  they 
would  also  serve  to  maintain  a  competition  in  the 
quality  of  the  food,  which  might  improve  the  pres- 
ent standard. 

The  number  of  passengers  carried  will  be  in- 
creased by  more  frequent  trains ;  whether  the 
additional  number  will  be  sufficient  to  justify  the 
expense  of  running  them  or  not  will  depend  upon 
the  population  to  be  accommodated,  but  the  fact 
of  an  increase  proves  that  more  passengers  will 
travel  if  the  hours  of  the  trains  are  convenient  for 
them  than  if  they  are  not.  It  is,  therefore,  a 


t44  ELEMENTS  OP  RAILROADING. 

matter  for  careful  study  how  best  to  adapt  a  few 
local  trains  to  the  wants  of  the  community ;  it 
will  generally  be  found  that  those  way  trains  which 
run  nearest  the  middle  of  the  day  carry  the  most 
passengers.  The  apparent  reason  for  this  is,  that 
people  living  at  a  distance  from  the  line  of 
the  road  have  time  to  reach  the  station  with- 
out rising  at  inconveniently  early  hours,  and 
that  they  aggregate  more  than  those  who  live  in 
the  villages  upon  the  immediate  borders  of  the 
railway,  who  take  the  earlier  trains.  The  local 
accommodation  trains  and  commuters'  trains  must 
be  run  very  exactly  on  time,  in  order  to  give 
satisfaction  or  to  do  justice  to  the  commuters ; 
their  business  appointments  will  be  arranged  to 
suit  the  time  of  the  trains,  and  even  a  slight  de- 
lay may  cause  them  a  loss.  There  is  often  a 
temptation  to  managers  to  carry  excursions  or 
extra  car-loads  of  people  on  these  trains,  causing 
them  to  be  retarded,  when  it  would  be  just  and 
judicious  to  run  a  special  train  for  the  extra  cars. 
When  once  the  best  time  for  a  local  or  for  a  com- 
muters' train  has  been  arrived  at  and  properly 
adjusted,  the  schedule  should  be  maintained  as 
nearly  as  possible  without  variation,  because  the 
household  and  business  habits  of  the  country 
which  it  serves  become  adapted  to  it,  and  a  varia- 
tion, however  slight,  causes  a  vexatious  change  in 
the  arrangements  of  a  great  number  of  people. 
The  only  change  which  is  ever  tolerable  is  to 


TIME.  TABLES— FOR  TERS.  1 45 

quicken  the  time  of  the  train,  leaving  the  country 
terminus  later  in  the  morning,  but  arriving  at  the 
city  as  before.  The  occasional  through  passenger 
can  bear  a  change  of  schedule  better  than  the 
daily  patron  ;  yet  the  old  established  through 
trains,  which  have  been  continued  -for  years  in 
succession,  always  carry  more  passengers  than  the 
faster  expresses  upon  recent  schedules,  until  these 
have  been  running  for  a  long  time  ;  for  tributary 
railroads  with  their  connections,  and  all  the  stage 
lines  from  neighboring  districts  will  have  become 
gradually  fitted  to  the  old  schedules,  and  it  re- 
quires a  long  period  of  time  to  enable  them 
generally  to  conform  to  a  new  one. 

At  many,  indeed  at  most,  stations,  even  the 
largest,  there  is  a  lamentable  want  of  porters  to 
assist  in  the  conveyance  of  hand  baggage  from  the 
train  to  the  carriages,  and  from  the  carriage  or 
waiting  room  to  the  train,  so  that  the  most  deli- 
cate persons  are  compelled  to  grapple  with  their 
hand-bags  and  wraps  and  to  struggle  along  as  best 
they  can.  The  self-dependent,  healthy  American 
citizen,  and  his  wife  and  daughters,  are  accustomed 
to  do  this  from  early  childhood,  and  do  not  mind 
it  much  until  they  have  been  abroad ;  after  they 
have  been  so  carefully  attended  as  they  are  in  the 
western  countries  of  Europe,  where  the  passenger 
business  receives  more  consideration  than  it  does 
with  us,  they  miss  the  ready  help  which  meets 
them  there  at  the  door  of  the  railway  coach. 


146  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

Probably  the  railways  which  first  imitate  the 
foreign  roads  in  providing  these  porters,  and  in 
insuring  cheap  means  of  conveyance,  by  cabs  and 
railroad  omnibuses,  to  and  from  the  depots,  will 
secure  the  larger  share  of  the  patronage  of  that 
now  somewhat  numerous  class  who  have  made  a 
foreign  tour.  Wheeled  chairs  and  stretchers  for 
the  helpless  are  needed  at  large  stations,  but  are 
not  always  provided. 

There  is  no  present  hope  of  reform  in  our  bag- 
gage arrangements,  probably;  the  system  of 
carrying  baggage  free  up  to  a  certain  excessive 
weight  has  prevailed  so  long  that  the  more  just 
plan  of  charging  for  all  baggage  would  be  revo- 
lutionary. A  reform  might  be  inaugurated,  by  a 
slight  reduction  in  fares  to  persons  without  bag- 
gage, which  would  possibly  reduce  the  heavy 
loads  now  carried.  The  change  would  be  much 
more  important  for  the  railways  than  at  first  sight 
appears,  because  the  competition  between  passen- 
ger agents  leads  to  the  carriage  of  immense 
quantities  of  sample  trunks  free,  in  order  to  secure 
the  sale  of  tickets.  A  limitation  should  be  placed 
upon  the  size  and  weight  of  trunks,  by  agreement 
of  the  passenger  agents,  for  they  are  already  so 
heavy  that  the  force  at  small  stations  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  put  them  aboard  the  passing  trains. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

EMPLOYES. 

PROMOTIONS — TREATMENT  OF  DERELICTS — SELECTION  OF  EM- 
PLOYES—REWARDS AND  PUNISHMENTS— PROVISIONS  FOR 
COMFORT — ASSOCIATIONS. 

Good  men,  who  have  become  acquainted  with 
their  duties  and  who  perform  them  with  faithful- 
ness, are  the  most  important  of  all  the  appoint- 
ments of  a  railroad.  It  is  a  long  process  to  edu- 
cate a  fresh  man  to  a  new  place  or  to  a  new  busi- 
ness; all  the  experience  which  the  old  hand  has 
acquired  is  of  value  to  his  employer,  so  long  as  he 
continues  to  do  well  or  to  intend  to  do  well  ; 
although  too  long  continuance  in  one  round  of 
duties  is  apt  to  make  a  good  man  dull,  and  it  is 
therefore  advisable  to  make  some  change  occasion- 
ally for  all  employe's,  promoting  them  if  an  oppor- 
tunity presents,  which  will  encourage  not  only 
them,  but  their  associates,  who  then  see  that 
patient  merit  attains  reward,  even  though  slowly. 
Frequently,  with  a  little  trouble,  a  vacancy  may 


1 40  ELEMEN  7  'S  OF  RA ILROA  DING. 

be  availed  of  to  move  several  persons  up  one 
round  of  the  ladder  each,  and  conscientious  man- 
agers find  much  pleasure  in  the  larger  number 
who  can  thus  be  made  happy,  at  the  same  time 
that  the  service  is  benefited  and  strengthened.  It 
is  easier  for  indifferent  managers  to  fill  a  place 
with  the  fewest  number  of  changes. 

The  great  advantage  to  the  company  of  experi- 
enced men  makes  it  a  difficult  matter,  sometimes, 
to  decide  upon  the  most  judicious  course,  when  a 
disaster  caused  by  the  neglect  or  oversight  of  an 
employe  calls  for  a  judgment  upon  him.  The 
disciplinarian  would  dismiss  him  from  principle, 
believing  that  he  had  thereby  taught  a  lesson  to 
the  remainder  of  the  force;  but  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  fear  of  dismissal  has  any  effect  upon 
the  larger  number  of  employes.  Let  the  manager 
consider  how  it  is  with  himself  or  with  the  other 
officers  of  the  road  ;  do  they  perform  their  duties 
because  of  fear,  or  because  they  have  undertaken 
them  and  feel  a  manly  pride  in  seeing  them  well 
done  ?  There  are  sneaks,  of  course,  among  rail- 
road employes  as  among  officers,  yet  they  are 
rare ;  the  great  majority  are  meaning  to  do  their 
duty  as  they  understand  it. 

The  case  of  an  erring  employe  should  be  tried 
upon  its  merits,  with  regard  to  the  previous  record 
of  the  employe,  considered  with  reference  to  the 
interests  of  the  company,  and  generally  without 
regard  to  the  other  employes.  Has  this  always 


DISMISSALS.  149 

been  a  careful,  dutiful  man  ?  Did  his  fault  arise 
from  ignorance,  forgetfulness,  indifference  or 
laziness  ?  If  from  ignorance  or  misjudgment,  did 
he  use  the  best  wits  he  had  and  do  as  well  as  he 
knew  how  ?  If  so,  he  does  not  deserve  great  con- 
demnation, even  though  he  may  have  caused  great 
damage.  If  from  forgetfulness,  not  habitual,  but 
instantaneous,  as  has  often  happened  to  switch- 
men and  conductors,  dismissal  is  no  remedy ;  the 
remedy  has  been  applied  by  the  accident ;  he  will 
be  a  safer  man  ever  after.  If  the  fault  was  from 
indifference  or  laziness,  it  is  sure  proof  of  a  worth- 
less character — that  is,  worthless  for  railroad  pur- 
poses. Good  conductors  and  excellent  enginemen 
have  forgotten  for  a  dangerous  interval  their  tele- 
graph orders,  and  caused  disasters  ;  when  pardoned 
because  of  their  long  and  perfect  records,  they 
proved  safe  men  and  the  most  devoted  servants 
of  the  company  for  years  after.  It  was  not  found 
that  this  leniency  had  a  bad  effect  upon  disci- 
pline as  related  to  the  other  employes  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, these  perceived  the  value  which  a  good 
record  might  have  for  a  man  who  fell  into  trouble. 
All  men  must  have  some  education  in  railroad 
operations  before  they  will  become  experts,  and 
in  acquiring  this  they  will  make  some  mistakes 
likely  to  cause  accidents  and  trouble  ;  it  would  be 
a  grave  error  on  the  part  of  the  manager  to  dis- 
charge men  who  have  had  this  education  at  his  ex- 
pense, to  take  on  fresh  men  to  be  educated  in  the 


150  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

same  way.  We  can  imagine  something  of  the 
state  of  a  road  upon  which  all  the  men  should  be 
new  to  railroad  business,  or,  even  if  experienced 
men,  new  to  the  road.  By  the  frequent  discharge 
of  employes,  for  trivial  mistakes,  some  roads 
maintain  a  permanent  approximation  to  this  con- 
dition :  their  accidents  are  not  thereby  diminished 
in  number. 

The  standard  of  character  among  employes  may 
always  be  raised  by  slow  degrees,  but  surely,  if 
proper  care  is  exercised  in  the  hiring  of  new  men  ; 
generally  something  can  be  learned  about  the 
character  of  every  applicant  ;  a  wandering  man 
without  a  certificate  from  his  last  place  is  not  a 
desirable  acquisition ;  and  even  a  certificate  re- 
quires to  be  scanned  closely.  If  a  man  is  em- 
ployed upon  a  certificate  from  another  road,  it  is 
a  safe  precaution  to  write  to  the  officers  of  that 
road  for  private  assurances ;  for,  in  the  first  place, 
many  officers  give  unwarranted  certificates,  which 
they  will  not  support  in  private  correspondence  ; 
in  the  second  place,  there  are  men  who  make  a 
business  of  furnishing  certificates  of  character  and 
recommendations  for  passes  to  any  one  who  will 
pay  for  them,  frequently  stealing  the  genuine 
letter-heads  and  forging  the  office  dating-stamp. 
The  sons  of  industrious  farmers  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  road  are  usually  glad  to  get  employment, 
and  are  a  healthy  stock  to  recruit  from,  if  judi- 
ciously selected. 


FILLING  VACANCIES.  151 

Brakemen  and  firemen  are  two  classes  of  men 
who  require  to  be  chosen  with  peculiar  care,  as  it 
is  from  them  that  the  conductors  and  enginemen 
are  to  be  developed  ;  and  since  they  are  really  ap- 
prentices, with  the  largest  pay  that  any  appren- 
tices receive  in  any  trade,  it  is  not  worth  while  to 
throw  away  the  valuable  instruction  they  are  to 
receive  upon  inferior  characters.  Upon  brake- 
men  a  great  responsibility  is  necessarily  placed, 
from  the  first.  A  reliance  upon  them  for  faithful 
performance  of  their  duties  without  good  evidence 
of  their  responsibility  would  invite  disaster.  Fire- 
men should  be  of  a  mechanical  turn  of  mind,  and 
ambitious  to  become  enginemen  ;  there  are  plenty 
of  young  men  with  these  qualifications,  and  it  is  a 
waste  to  employ  any  others ;  they  make  the  bet- 
ter firemen,  of  course,  from  their  hope  of  advance- 
ment. 

In  filling  vacancies,  the  best  general  policy  is  to 
promote  deserving  employes  whenever  there  are 
such  who  are  competent  for  the  positions,  and  to 
fill  up  the  ranks  of  apprentices  in  shops,  stations 
and  offices,  as  well  as  other  minor  appointments, 
from  the  families  of  old  employes,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible. The  children  of  employes  are  in  a  sort  of 
apprenticeship  from  their  birth ;  they  have  op- 
portunities for  learning  many  details  which  others 
can  only  acquire  after  a  considerable  period  of 
service  ;  they  are  already  attached  to  the  road  and 
its  managers,  if  the  management  has  been  just; 


152  ELEMEN TS  OF  RAILROADING. 

and  this  attachment  may  be  of  great  value  to  the 
company;  it  is  an  inducement  to  continuous  and 
faithful  service,  if  the  employes  understand  that 
these  chances  for  a  start  in  life  are  reserved  for 
their  children. 

It  does  not  admit  of  doubt  that  good  service 
may  be  more  promoted  by  rewards  than  by  pun- 
ishments ;  yet  fines  imposed  for  carelessness  are  a 
legitimate  and  effectual  penalty,  if  due  care  is  taken 
not  to  impose  them  unjustly,  and  the  men  will 
recognize  the  fairness  of  paying  them,  if  within 
their  means,  when  by  carelessness  they  have  caused 
damage.  Rewards,  however,  are  more  stimulat- 
ing ;  premiums  for  savings  on  engines,  for  supe- 
riority in  maintenance  of  track,  and  promotions  of 
the  most  deserving,  without  favoritism,  encourage 
a  generous  strife  for  excellence.  Heroic  actions, 
or  one  of  uncommon  merit,  should  be  acknowl- 
edged by  a  letter  to  the  deserving  employe",  and 
it  is  all  the  better  if  accompanied  by  a  small 
present  in  money.  Such  tokens  of  approval  have 
been  dear  to  men  always  ;  the  railroad  employe 
likes  to  show  them,  as  a  soldier  does  his  medals. 

Discipline  is  only  maintained  by  careful  atten- 
tion to  small  details.  The  experience  of  armies 
shows  that  men  do  not  fail  in  the  important 
things  until  they  have  become  negligent  as  to  the 
less  considerable.  A  superintendent,  supervisor 
or  foreman  must  therefore  be  continually  looking 
for  the  small  defects  if  he  hopes  to  avoid  the 


THE   TREATMENT  OF  MEN.  153 

larger;  nothing  which  is  not  exactly  right  should 
oass  without  remark;  nor,  if  not  immediately  cor- 
rected, without  a  louder  remark.  It  is  probably 
not  necessary  to  say  that  if  the  superior  officer 
keeps  his  temper,  under  whatever  provocation, 
his  determination  to  require  perfect  obedience  will 
be  more  manifest  and  more  felt  than  if  he  falls  into 
a  passion  ;  at  the  same  time  he  will  be  more  com- 
fortable himself. 

The  condition  of  enginemen  and  firemen,  of 
conductors  and  brakemen,  is  apt  to  be  forlorn 
when  they  are  away  from  home  ;  some  provision 
should  be  made  for  them  to  sleep  and  eat  in  com- 
fort ;  and  a  sitting-room  where  they  can  pass  the 
dreary  hours  of  waiting,  amused  with  games  or 
the  newspaper,  is  necessary,  if  it  is  not  preferred 
that  they  shall  haunt  the  taverns.  These  ar- 
rangements can  be  made  self-supporting,  but  the 
company  must  t^ke  the  initiative  and  furnish  a 
suitable  building  which  may  be  let  to  a  landlord 
who  will  keep  it  upon  terms  dictated  by  the  com- 
pany, if  that  is  thought  best. 

Employes'  associations  for  any  purposes,  as  for 
club-rooms,  hospitals,  insurance,  lack  the  most 
important  condition  of  success,  which  is  a  promise 
of  permanence.  Any  employe  or  a  considerable 
number  of  them,  may  leave  the  road  at  any  time, 
and  the  society  may  fail  suddenly  from  want  of 
support,  or  the  employe  may  cease  to  benefit  by 
his  contribution  because  of  his  own  removal ;  it  is, 


154  ELEMENTS  OF  RAILROADING. 

therefore,  important  that  the  railroad  company 
should  be  a  subscriber  to,  or  guarantor  of,  such 
associations  as  it  would  wish  to  encourage.  So  far 
as  experience  goes,  it  appears  that  the  men  are 
less  interested  in  libraries  and  reading-rooms  than 
in  reasonable  bodily  comfort  while  living,  and  in 
benefits  to  their  families  in  case  of  death  or  injury  j 
a  judicious  manager  can  secure  the  hearty  co-oper- 
ation of  the  employe's  in  any  well-conceived  un_ 
dertaking  which  has  these  ends  in  view. 


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